Evening Star Newspaper, November 6, 1928, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, THE EVENING STAR |discredited bandit, whose continued op- | walkers in order that the large traffic With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C TUESDAY.....November 6, 1928 THEODORE W. NOYES. . ..Editor ‘The Evening Star Newspaper Company Al Jusiness Office: 11th St. and Pennsvivania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. Chicago Office: Tower Building. European Office; 14 Regent St.. London, England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. The Evening Star... 45¢ per month Sunday Star Ry i The Evening and (when 4 Sunda: 80c per month 5c per month unday Star Sc_per copy Collection made at the end of rach month. Orders may be sent In by mail or telephone Main 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. land and Virginia. Dally and Sunday....1 yr.. $10.00: 1 mo. g8c Daily only yro 8 mo.. Sunday cnly .. 1 yr., $400; 1 mo. 40c All Other States and Canada. Dally and Sunday..1 yr, $12.00: 1 mo. §1.00 Daily only 1yr, $800: 1 mo. 7bc Sunday only 00: 1 mo.. 50¢c Member of the Associated Press. ‘The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all . ews dis- ra!chn credited to it or not otherwise cred. ted in this paper and also the .ocal published herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. Now for the Count! The presidential campaign closed | without any surprises or shocks or last- minute sensations. The two candidates made personal appeals by radio for the fullest exercise of the franchise by the people. Gov. Smith added to that ap- peal a recital of his qualifications for the office of Chief Executive of the Na- tion. A representative of the financial administration of the Democratic na- tional committee made a plea for con- tributions to the campaign fund. The Republicans unexpectedly staged a sup- plementary program following the Democratic hour of speech and music, an arrangement which may have been devised for the sake of preparedness case of anything surprising arising :n the final hours. Considering the fury of the campaign, the vehemence of the speeches, the con- | tradictions of the situation in general, this was a calm and placid finish., The radio permitted an almost conver- sational exchange between the candidates in the final period. It was a mild conclusion, marred only by a sorry happening in Worcester, Mass., where a Republican parade was stormed by op- ponents and blood was shed and feel- ings were wounded. Present estimates are that at least forty million people will cast their votes today. Many millions have already been cast as this edition of The Star is print- ed. In some Massachusetts towns, where there is strong local pride in early and complete voting, the results are already proclaimed. In the Eastern States gen- erally the reports indicate a very heavy balloting. There is reason to believe that the ratio of votes to registration will be high throughout the country, for even in sections and States which have been heretofore so well established in their political preponderance that elec- tion results were registered only by minorities there are at present swift position to the Marines made him such a martyr in the eyes of all those in this country who howled against American intervention. Moncada’s victory at the polls will constitute not only a vindica- tion of the righteousness of his cause, which enlisted the sympathies of many in this country, but of the fairness of American policy which permitted the test at the polls. Gen. Moncada is to be congratulated upon the victory which the returns in hand indicate. Leading a revolution which if not victorious would at least have rendered the Conservative party {in power at the time helpless, he called off his forces, surrendered his arms and signed the Stimson agree- ment, which guaranteed him a fair chance at the polls. Now he will come into power as the constitution of his country provides, free from the stigma of armed revolt or political intrigue, which so many of his predecessors in office have worn. Now is presented an exceptional op- portunity for the defeated Conserva- tives to prove the sincerity of their for- mer declarations in behalf of constitu- tional government. No time should be lost by their leaders in pledging to the victorious candidate their full support and loyalty. Unless defeat can be ac- cepted gracefully, party government in a republic cannot survive. e -t Washington's Sackeloth and Ashes, Before this nightfall a now incal- culable number of millions of free- born Americans will have exercised the | proudest right vouchsafed them by the Constitution. They will have elected 8 President and Vice President and Congress of the United States of their sovereign choosing. Once again—let it be hoped for the last time—a great segment of the Na- tion was excluded from participation in election day. That segment is the people of the District of Columbia. They alone, among their so-called fel- low-citizens of the Republic, suffered the ignominy of ostracism from the polls. They alone stood by, with folded arms, while their compatriots molded the country's destinies for the next four years. Rightly have Washingtonians come to call these recurring voteless elec- tion days their Days of Humiliation. Events like those of this November 6, 1928, and their precursors in other election years, are a humiliating trav- esty on popular government. They are unworthy of the America which toler- ates them. They are degrading to the Americans who are their helpless vic- tims. There is no such incongruity anywhere else in all the world. Neither movements of the present day can take place with the maximum of safety to all concerned % ‘The automatic signals have proved a boon to pedestrians and motorists alike, but these signals lose their efficiency and desirability if automobile traffic is widely scattered groups of walkers while running on the green signal. A happy medium must be found to pro- mote harmony among all users of the | street, and with hundreds of regula- tions placed on the motorist there as- suredly can be no unfairness in per- mitting them free and unobstructed passage on the green or go signal at intersections. The District should either shed its unenforced regulation or promulgate one that will be both enforced and re- spected. No good can come of the pres- ent condition, and it is high time that ‘Washington should join the ranks of other progressive cities to promote safety on the streets. el Spreading the News. The Star invites all Washington and the surrounding territory to participate in its news display tonight when the returns from the voting are received. It will conduct an unusually active service of information, employing every possible means of collecting and dis- tributing the news. From the Associ- ated Press, from its special correspond- ents and from the Western Union it will get the returns from all the voting arcas, with no loss of time. It will then display these returns upon the stereopticon screens in front of its building and will simultaneously trans- mit them by radio over Station WMAL in a special broadcasting service which will include both detailed bulletins and an occasional analysis of the situation by one of the most competent of polit- ical observers. Furthermore, it will issue extra editions as early and as frequently as the news warrants, giving the trend of the election count in the earlier issues and as soon as possible announcing the verdict on the presi- dency. As a means of communicating the general Indications and the final result to those beyond the range of the screens and those who have no radio it will flash powerful searchlight beams into the sky according to a code of signals that is printed in the news columns today and that can be readily interpreted. All these provisions for speedy an- nouncement are made in recognition of the fact that the election is the most important matter before the people at this time. Millions who are voting today in the Virginia and Maryland area sur- the residents of London or Paris, of Berlin or Tokio, of Buenos Aires or Rome, suffer the political indignities imposed upon the residents of Wash- ington. 2 Humiliated though Washingtonians are by this disgraceful and indefen- sible state of affairs, they are not disheartened. They are particularly not downcast by the futility, to date, of their efforts to remove the blot of Washington's disfranchisement from currents of feeling causing an unprece- dented volume of voting. In ordinary circumstances the trend of the result of the balloting in the Eastern section of the country is mani- fest by eight o'clock on the night of election day. It is possible, however, that with a record vote cast the count- ing will be so slow that early tabula- tions will not be possible, In places where voting machines are in use the counting of the votes is immediate, re- gardless of the number of ballots cast, It was expected that Greater New York, with its two-million registration, would show its totals before seven o'clock, with a complete equipment of machines. But that very registration caused a change of program. There were not enough machines to equip all the polling places that were necessary to accommodate this enormous number of voters, and two of the five boroughs were put on a paper-ballot basis, which will slow the count somewhat. ‘The prevailing hope is that, however the election may go, the result will be clear-cut and decisive, and that it will be known in short order. It is certainly to be hoped that there will be no agoniz- ing delays and alternations such as marked the election of 1884, when Grover Cleveland was finally proclaimed winner over James G. Blaine by a slen- der margin of New York votes. Or the contest of 1916, when election night closed with Hughes an apparent and in most quarters an acknowledged winner, with an overnight change caused by the discovery that California was close and that on the vote of that State de- pended the result, which was finally awarded to Wilson. ‘Whatever the great referendum deter- mines, it is well assured that the coun- try is perfectly safe. The contest has been conducted with spirit and with the | result of arousing the greatest degree | of popular interest ever known. If forty million votes are cast the chances are that the verdict of the people will be a sound one. ———— Discourse on statesmanship will now resume the practice of considering eco-| nomic ideas without reference to dif- ferences of opinion as to pronunciation. B — Moncada’s Victory. More important to the United States than the victory at the polls Sun- day in Nicaragua of Gen. Jose Maria Moncada, Liberal leader, is the fact that the election was unmarked by violence or disorder and that the American Marines fulfilled their mission in assuring every Nicaraguan a right to cast his ballot. Had it been other- wise, no amount of explanations, how- ‘ever reasonable they might have been, could have exculpated Uncle Sam from the charge of exercising an autocratic dictatorship which encouraged, rather than prevented, bloodshed. Brig. Gen. Frank R. McCoy, U. 8. A, designated by President Coolidge as the Anjerican in charge of the supervision of the election, has performed a delicate task and comes off with high honors. ‘The victory of Gen. Moncada will have a heneficial result psychologically. Gen. Moncada was the active leader of the revolt which brought about the armed intervention of the United States. His was the party which, it is claimed, the United State was barring from power by the strength of the steel of the natjonal escutcheon. With an Eng- lish poet -laureate of the present Georgian reign, Washingtonians say, and say militantly: ' - “Is life worth living? Yes, so long As there is wrong to right.” Exclusion of the District of Columbia rom national representation is wrong. It is a wrong that some day must and rounding the Capital and the more than half million District residents who are, through injustice, denied the vote, are eager for the first possible indica- tion of the trend of the balloting. That The Star will endeavor to give, scru- pulously assuring accuracy and utiliz- ing every possible agency to spread the news to the utmost extertt of its range of service in the shortest time. Those who, in the keeping of a long-established custom, assemble in front of The Star office to “read the returns” on the stereopticon screens will be warmly wel- comed, even though newer modes of announcement may have been evolved. There is still a thrill in the flashing bulletin that tells of the tide of the count, and The Star hopes that all who attend its election night gathering will will be righted. To doubt that is to question the fundamental justice inher- ent in the American people. Wash- ington puts its case for national suf- frage in terms of fair play. So put, its plea cannot permanently be denied by a people whose whole national fabric is rooted in the doctrine of equal rights to all and special privileges to none. —————————— ‘With Hoover at one end of the conti- nent and Smith at the other, it is im- possible for them to follow the custom of pugllists and shake hands just before the battle. However, the time-honored practice of congratulations from loser to winner will be followed and abun- dant assurance given that no perma- nent enmities are involved. ——r—— Campaign comedians who have been under evident restraint can now pro- ceed to deliver their performances for the benefit of those who may need cheering up on “the morning after.” —— o It is fortunate that obsolete campaign badges are not as hard to get rid of as discarded safety-ragor blades. —oe—s Automatic Signals and Pedestrians. While District motorists are some- what shocked at the ruling of the Court of Appeals which may strip from them the medicum of protection which they enjoyed under the traffic code’s unen- forced regylation providing that pedes- trians shall not cross an intersection against a red signal, they should realize that such a situation could only he brought about by the shillyshallying in- dulged in during a period of years over the important pedestrian regulation by District authorities. The “off again, on again, Pinnegan” tactics employed by the Commissioners and the Traffic De- partment in regard to a rule which would bring pedestrians under control at street intersections have caused con- fusion to both walkers and motorists, and it is small wonder, therefore, that the regulation as it now stands breeds evil rather than benefit. In the court decision yesterday it was ruled that pedestrians who had started to cross the street on a green light had enjoy a happy evening. e It is always permissible for a candi- date to predict his own election. This predietion is a touch of rhetoric which, though without statistical value, is al- ways good for a round of applause. —— vt In the important political news the fact that a comparatively peaceful elec- tion was held in Nicaragua is an item entitled to hopeful attention. ——— The “silent voter” is hoping for a chance to give a prolonged and resonant whoop when the returns are in. oo SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Undisputed Word. When you're weary of “evolution” And old Doc Freud is a bore; When jazz is an institution, Depressing you more and more; ‘When you're fed up on weird sagacity, How welcome becomes the day ‘When your mental audacity Asks only capacity To utter one word—“Hooray!" ‘When you tire of the explanations ‘That leave you in doubt anew; ‘When you're puzzled by grand orations ‘Whose meanings you can't pursue, You still may speak with authority And say what you have to say In superiority, With a large majority, Whose policy’s just “Hooray!” Important Advantage. “Do you like speaking on the radio?” “It has its advantages,” answered Senator Sorghum. “If by any mis- chance your audience happens to be walking out on you, you may remain blisstully unconsclous of the fact.” Jud Tunkins says marking a ballot might seem a little complicated if peo- ple didn’t have so much expericnce with eross-word puzzles. Final Thought. The voter hurries with a smile a perfect right to complete their jour- ney, unmolested by motorists, regard- less of a change of signals. While no one, pedestrian or motorist, will dis- | agree with the fairness of this ruling when applied to a specific case, there is a well defined feeling that this deci- sion may be used as a precedent to cover pedestrians who are run down at intersections when they leave the curb in the face of a red signal. Naturally, a motorist has no more right to charge into a pedestrian who is unable to make the opposite curb be- fore the green light comes on than he has to smash into the back of an auto- mobile which is delayed by other traic in clearing the intersection. The pedes- trian, as the decision states, has no defense against the weight of an auto- mobile, and should naturally receive a greater degree of protection than any other user of the street. It is, however, Marine bayonets. His was the party of Bandino, formerly one of Moncada's trusted lieutenants, but alterwigd & ) an accepted theory in many of the larger communities of the United States that some restraint showld be put upon Upon ‘election day, And says, “Let's pause and think a while; There's nothing more to say.” Discretion Required. “What is your political belief?" “I can't say,” answered Miss Cay- enne. “Pather and mother happen to disagree, and, of course, I don't care to take sides.” “To speak loudly,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “is to be as the thunder which sounds with no meaning after the lightning has struck.” Endless Game, And when this vote is ended We'll start right in anew With preparation splendid For Nineteen thirty-two. “Some men talks a heap o' politics,” sald Uncle Eben, “as an excuse foh cuttin' in on de day's work foh loafin’ I s 7] o compelled to dodge iis way through | One of the finest things about the radio is how easy it is to turn it off! ‘We never pause in front of our re- ceiver, either to flip the switch on or off, without marveling at this handy provision. Almost the hand of God is shown in this feature. The thoughtful will be convinced that if radio receiving sets lacked this grand ability, they would be little regarded. ‘Who, one wonders, would be willing to listen continuously for hours at a time to something or other which he did not wish to hear? neighbor's set, that is something which he cannot help. but that he should be the victim of his own outfit is unthink- able. - As if realizing this, Nature took the matter out of the hands of frenzied fans and turned it over to the merciful engineers. These great gentlemen from the very first incorporated devices for turning sets on and off. In the beginning of popular radio the rheostat did the trick. Today the toggle switch serves. * ¥ Kk And how well it serves! Thank God and the engineers for the set switch—such is the fervent thanks- giving of all who are really appreciative of the great gift which is radio. Those who are intemperate in the use of their sets, who insist on run- ning them full blast, even if the loud speaker threatens to rattle its insides out, know nothing of the use of the switch which permits the A. C. cur- rent to function. To such benighted individuals the toggle switch is just a switch, but the discriminating man or woman, who really loves radio as an art and a science and the greatest home amuse- ment ever invenied, will think of the switch as a delicate instrument, rank- The switch is the master control, the grand daddy of them all. The volume Increase knob may put a station on the auditory map, after it is tuned in, but the switch is what makes it possible, in the first place. * Kk K % Single dial tuning, however, well illuminated, can do nothing more than bring in stations, whereas the toggle switch, marvelous little thing that it is, can tune discord out of the mind of the radio fan. There is a feat for you! Suppose some inventor should market an instrument which he would guaran- tee to save the purchaser from ever be- coming bored with life. Would he not make a million dollars the first day? Well, the set switch of the radio is exactly that instrument. ‘With a flip of the finger, one can send the voice of the lady broadcaster into oblivion. Here is the situation: A really good dance orchestra has Jjust finished a half hour of rhythmical melody. The listener has enjoyed it, every note, every chortle from the trumpet, every thump of the kettle drum. “There will now be a brief pause for statlon announcements,” says the fellow away off there. If one is forced to listen-in on a :ngl in importance with the tuning con- | rol. D. C. TUESDAY, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. ! The listener feels that something is | impending. | "From past experiences with the same | feeling, he knows that the “something” | is not going to be pleasant, as far as he is concerned. Now let us accent that last phrase, “as far as he is concerned.” ‘What is about to happen may be dis- | tinctly palatable to a thousand other | listeners, but it is so much lost motion in so far as he is concerned in the matter. Hist! 'Tis the voice of the announcer. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he intones | in his best intoning manner, “we have the pleasure of introducing at this time—" “No pleasure to me, old top,” you say, rising from your comfortable chair. “Mrs. Henry S. Oogle will now address Jou——? “She won't address me!" “On the modern art of sandwich imaking.” By this time you are over by the set. Your hand reaches out for the switch. Before you can give it a friendly push Mrs. Oogle blurts out: “My good friends—"" “You are no friend of mine, my dear lady.” It is terribly impolite, of course, but she can't hear you. “I am down on the program this fternoon—" “Not on my program.” Click! ‘The shouting and the tumult. dies. 1t is the most complete, the most | drastic, the most soul-satisfying thing |in the world, the way the shouting (and tumult dies. ‘There is no appeal. No, sir-ce! Every man is master of his own ra- dio set, at least. It is one thing he can boss. The lady cannot cry, “Please, Mis- ter, let me just start my speech. I will | show you how good I am. I will make | your mouth water for a ham sand- | wich——" “No, Madam,” the radio set owner declares, in effect. “No, Mam, I'm sorry, but I am not in the mood for sand- wiches today. Sorry.” SR |a Click! The great of the earth, as well as poor Mrs. Qogle, meet exactly the same fate. The radio set owner plays no fa- vorites. His whim of the moment is law. “Oh, turn him off!” says somebody. “Tune In a good jazz band.” And away he goes, just like that. Musical selections which are not up to ;xlmf{ receive precisely the same treat- ent, One has an antipathy to the time- honored “Londonderry air.” Turn off the set! Silence is better than this old melody, after one has been forced to listen fo it almost nightly for the past five years, ‘The set switch thus takes its right- ful place, not only as a wonderful pro- vision of nature, but also as the most | eritical tuning device ever known. The switch permits one to exerclse unrestricted “thumbs down” on any- body or anything, or to “give us your ears,” in the best sense. It is the very heart of the modern radio recelver. Editorial comment on the death of Robert Lansing, war-time Secretary of State in the Wilson cabinet, accords his a secure place in history as diplo- matist and authority ‘on international law, however. much opinions may dif- fer in regard to the causes leading up to his break with the President after the peace conference. The New York Evening World be- lieves that his departure from the cabinet “was a painful episode to more than those immediately concerned, but its injustice was never shown.” The Baltimore Evening Sun takes the position that Mr. Lansing “deserves a high place in the history of the De- partment of State for having displayed such gportsmanship under eircumstances that few men would relish,” while the Flint Daily Journal, with a tribute to him as ‘one of the greatest Secre- taries of State,” avers that “he will be temembered as one who served during very trying times and whose loyalty to his chief and his country was un- Questioned.” The Ann Arbor Dally News holds that Mr. Lansing “was among America’s level-headed, reliable men of responsi- bility, who acted calmly for the best in times of stress. Though Wilson and Lansing disagreed and finally went their separate ways,” continues the News, ““their names will be linked in the minds of those Americans who rightfully recog- nize the administration of which both ‘were a part as belonging with the out- standing administrations in the re- public’s annals.” Describing the former Secretary as a “painstaking and experienced man who had been prominent in _arbitration treaties,” the Savannah Press adds: “At the Paris Peace Conference, Sec- retary Lansing and President Wilson did not see eye io eye as to the duty of the United States, The President was shocked at Lansing's policy even when he was making a_tour through the West, and when Mr. Lansing called a meeting of the cabinet during the illness of the President, his attitude led to a complete disruption and to the final retirement of the Secretary from the cabinet.” It is agreed by the Birmingham Press that “Robert Lansing's place in history is by the side of Woodrow Wil- son,” and that “there is fame in pro- portionate measure for both,” that pa- per stating also: “It s clear today that while Mr. Wilson was his own Secretary whenever it suited his purposes or whims, Mr. Lansing always advocated a steady and firm policy toward Ger- many and was always willing to follow through the logic of the strained situa- tion that arose after the submarine sinkings, even though that course led inevitably to a declaration of war.” Mr. Lansing is viewed by the Cleve land Plain Dealer as “a ‘career man' in public service, the type of man the Department of State has of late years sought for the diplomatic service.” Its further verdict is that “his work was of the conspicuous kind which insures him a place in war-time history.” The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle de- clares: “In the field of pure diplomacy it is quite likely that Secretary Lan- sing will come to be ranked with the greatest who have held a similar office; certainly he surnasses the others who served in the Wilton administration.” “Always the scholar and gentleman,™ is the verdict of the Loulsville Courier- Journal, which offers the tribute: “Rob- ert Lansing was a capable diplomat. & patriotic official and a high-minded entleman. Though overshadowed +by is chief in his post of Secretary of State, he none the less left his impress on American history. In the negotia- tions preceding the break with Ger- many it was Lansing’s knowledge of international law that guided the course of Wilson’s policies.” The Charlotte News testifies: “He had an Interna- tional mind to a superlative degree and his personal worth and strength of in- tellect added immeasurably to the col- lective genius that surrounded Mr. Wil- son and helped to make him notable among the really great and constructive administrations” in the annals of the American Government.” The Williams- port Sun credits him with having given “to America and to the world, over a period of years, the best fruits of an able mind.” “A man o (e f great personal ability and charm,’ 1] Houston Chronicle. “In no way a politiclan, and unversed ' c - in the ways and means of ohigining Lansing Accorded High Place In Country’s War-Time History povularity with the people, he was nev- ertheless an able, intellectual leader of the Democratic party. He belonged to the old New York school of Cleve- land Democrats, inherently conservative but inherently honest as well, His personal following in the party was never large, but the Jeffersonian lead- ers respected him for his intellectual attainments. His place in history as Secretary of State during the dark and difficult days of the World War is secure.” Mr. Lansing's course of action is criticized by the Milwaukee Journal with the statement, “His attack on Wilson's policy at Paris was so severe that it was clear that if he thought that way the only course for him was to have broken away from the admin- istration.” The Kansas City Star, holding that Mr. Lansing's promotion to the pre- mier’s post “assumed that Wilson would be his own Secretary of State,” makes the comment: “In peace the situation might have worked out to the credit of Lansing. But it was a time of tremendous stress with a world in arms, The Secretary was wholly unfitted to ride the storm. In the peace confer- rence his legalistic mind irritated his chief, and when he called a cabinet conference In Wilson's iliness the Pres- ident dismissed him, * * * The out- come was the penalty Lansing paid for continuing in service under conditions that were constantly humiliating.” The Roanoke Times feels that “the Nation will remember him kindly and with a distinct feeling of pity,” and that “there is a growing conviction that he was broken by circumstances for which he was in no way to blame.” The New York Times concludes: ‘‘He was a patriotic and a faithful public servant. On the other hand, let us be Just to Mr. Wilson. He was entitled 0 a Secretary of State who would agree with him and with whom his personal relations could be pleasant.” UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR Ten Years Ago Today. The German high command has or- dered the withdrawal of the 3d and 5th German Armies across the Meuse on the front held by the American 1st Army. Fresh troops are being thrown in to cover,this retiring move- ment from the region of Stenay north- ward to beyond Sedan, and to hold back the Americans as long as pos- sible. * * * With American troops less than 6 miles away from Sedan, the enemy has fired Sedan and Mouzon. * * * The success of the one of the greatest victories of the war, They are now on their way to write a new story of Sedan, which will call “hlessed” the name of a city which the French have hated to remember ever since the dark days of 1871, * * * Brit- ish and French forces from the Scheldt to the Meuse swept forward irresistibly today, driving back the foe for heavy losses of ground. * * * The Gen armistice delegation has reached the al- lied lines. Germany's haste in sending envoys “to conclude armistice” is in- terpreted as an intention to surrender. German war chiefs realize that the military situation is no less dangerous than are Internal conditions. * Eleven hundred and eighty-two casual- ties on lists published today, bringing total to 69,488, - Under Another Name. From the San Bernardino Sun, Quebec Province is levying a tax of § per cent on all meals costing $1, the money going to charity. Here we pay 10 per cent and the money goes to the waiter. P Painless Geography. From the Kalamazoo Gazetie. The American lad who once joined the Navy to see the world now joins a foot ball team or a jazz orchestra, ————e e Identifies the Source. From the Rochester Times-Union. You can tell a country-raised boy. He an swat and scratch mosquito bites wikhout I4gFFUDHER e American forces is developing fast into’ NOVEMBER 6, 1928. NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM , LG M. GOETHE: The History of a Man. Emil Ludwig. G. P. Putnam'’s Sons. It has been said in an implication of complaint that the book is too long. Such statement promptly posits the query, “Too long for what?” A ques- tion, this, which in its turn opens up | more than one road of pursuit and examination. Ludwig's “Goethe” is not a book at | all, or so it seems to me. Rather is it a great workshop, laboratory, ex- periment station. The material assem- bled within it is human stuff—feelings and desires, impulses and urgencies, dreams of young enchantment, waken- ings of stark reality, fears and hopes; denials and acceptances, action and idleness, gains and losses. In a word, here gathered together is every man’s share in the common lot of humanity, save that in this case the material is definitely conditioned by the time and the place, by the heredity and environ- ment, by the personality and com- manding genius of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. ¢ And to this material in its orderly arrangement of the years and periods of Goethe's life are being applied the means that modern science has set for the searching out of truth, for testing it, for placing it beside the other truths of its special company in the proper measure of its value to the whole. Ludwig, the master hand in this place, makes use of no more than three tools. One of these is the new knowledge of mind in its practical bearing upon hu- man behaviors, the new psychology. One is the relatively recent concept of all history as a unit, ever part of it, no matter how remote, significant as an interpreter of the present as a promise for the future. So in the individual every least part is revelatory of the whole. And another tool is the investi- gator's passion for a first-hand knowl- edge of his material, a passion that rejects hearsay and all overworked mat- ter with its dilutions and perversions. Goethe himself, and none other, will serve in this momentous business of re- creation. Upon_entering the great workshop you will feel at once the stir of its energetic activity. And equally soon do you come into a partaking sense of the big business on hand. You be- come a fellow workman with Ludwig, a collaborator. Away at the far end of the long room is an exit, wide and high, through which at the moment a stately and ceremonious figure is passing. That is Goethe himself, the Goethe whom we know now—aloof and distinctly wraith- like, By way of this figure alone the surpassing work of this genius can be neither evaluated nor deeply loved. Here he is but little more than a symbol of the classic art, its last manifestation. To reach such remoteness he not only passed out of the essence of the individ- ual but out of that of the type as well. ‘To know Goethe's genius is to know his works and this is to know the man him- self. 8o, for the time being, take your eyes away from that receding vision and set them upon the youth who so fills the room near the entrance. An aston- ishing and perturbing youth, compound of heights ang depths of passion, driven by every errancy of mental and physical mood, an egoist of ?repnsumuu assump- tions, an irrepressible and unaccount- able youngster, clearly outside the usual means of discipline and training, Lud- wig lingers a long time over these early tempestuous years, and for good reason. These years are the seed of many harvests, each richer than the one be- fore it. ' Possibly you grow tired of the boy and his many escapades. Maybs you think they are too repetitious to be of value. They are not. Repetition is one of the roads to learning, and here you are learning the boy who became the great poet, Goethe. In these early years, and indeed throughout the investigation, much comes to the surface about the loves, the many loves, of Goethe. And this, as well as the great bulk of the book, has come in for complaint, Just why is not clear. Love was one of the potencies of the man’s genius. So, since this is above everything else a quest for the truth, that fact comes out here. It is not as if Ludwig finding himself in a pleasant path decides to linger there. Not at all. He is held to that path by the tremendous influence of women upon the growing art of Goethe's work. And here assemble, be- sides, many a man of note, who became influential in the growth of boy and man and master mind.: The great work- shop is gradually filling with the friends of Goethe, each giving evidence of his own place and influence in the world of sclence and letters growing up around Goethe, in part shaped by him, in other part accepted and made use of by him. Here are men and women, here is the spirit of the age, here are currents of thought and action, here are facts—here is the full sum of Goethe's personal and contemporaneous life. All are crowded into this laboratory of human existence, all are taking part in this adventure of genius. Here is a wealth of personal evidence, of individual testimony—yet the place gives no impression of con- tusion or undirected effort. Instead, out of the great collection of accummulated material, out of the experiments in weighing and placing these various and multitudinous elements, there emerges a man of genius, who all along his tri- umphant way bears the marks of human experience in evidence that genius is, after all, but man raised to his highest powers. It seems to me that this book is, therefore, first and foremost a piece of scientific re-creation. It is the re- embodying of Goethe in his own life and circumstances for the sake of a fairer understanding of the poetry of Goethe, for a warmer and more ap- rreclntlve approach to it, for its intel- ectural and spiritual reflex upon the reader’s own life and outlook. Now, as 8 book to read, for the general reader to take up. Here is a theme of which the whole world knows. Soms know little about it. Some know much. But here is g story, hundreds of stories in truth, all projected easily from the actual life of the hero, all mindful of the accuracies of every detail. In- teresting stories these are, which, as a whole, serve to deliver over to readers & very great man in the magic world of poetry. So, taken in either of these two senses, here is a vital matter treated in a vivid and rather irresisti- ble way by a writer who has proved himself a ‘master hand over and over again. A long call from this sort of biog- raphy to that of an earlier day. We used to read the life of a great man as a regular and orderly series of events or activities that set in with his birth and left off with his death More than that, these facts and details of the personal life and influence were drawn from sources of many overlay- ings of hearsay and repetition, so that, in effect, the life story was no more the man himself than was his suit of clothes. Then some one thought ur the idea of making a novel of the biography. And this certainly was a good step forward, As a step it was most useful. Here the man under con- sideration promptly begame a hero, around whom stirring and momentous events appeared to swarm by virtue of his own personal and spiritual com- pulsion. Often a good story, a good novel, was the result of such concep- tion and treatment. But it was in no sense a hm.nphfl. ‘Then the way of the scientist took hold of the biographer as it has here taken hold of Emil Ludwig. His sole preoccupation is to find out the truth about the man, the truth at every stage of his develop- ment, the effect of the age upon him, his effect upon the age. No other con- cern belongs to him, save only that of the truth. Is he concerned about the kind of man this one is in any respect except that for which he is under in- vestigation? No, he is not concerned. The moralist may have him, later, if he so desires to point a warning, but right here and now there is but a single purpose—to discover the truth in so far as the man reveals it, and vestigator 3ightly, interprets and This is a_special department de- voted to the handling of inquiries. You have at your disposal an extensive organization in Washintgon to serve you in any capacity that relates to information. Write your question, your name and your address clearly, and inclose 2 cents in coin or stamps for reply. Send to The Evening Star [ formation Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. Q. Do lions grow thicker manes when in captivity?—N. N. A. Their manes are thicker in captivity. Q. Are more cucumbers used in their fresh state or as pickles?—A. J. A. Two-thirds of the cucumbers that are raised are used for pickles in some form. longer and ®. Does the Aurora Borealis make a nolse?—R. F. ) A. The Carnegie Institution sa that this has been a moot question, but the evidence of most experienced observers is to the effect that there is no noise accompanying the polar- light displays. Some observers claim to have heard a noise somewhat simi- lar to a faint rust!ing during some dis- plays. Q. Who introduced the navel into the United States?>—E. N. D. A. The United States owes the suc- cessful introduction of the navel orange to the late Willlam Saunders, horticul- which were introduced the trees though they were the first to come into successful bearing. The late Thomas Hogg of New York, in an ac- count published in 1888, stated that about 1838 a wealthy Scotch planter in Brazil determined to manumit slaves and remove with them to the United States. He settled on an island in Middle or Southern Florida akd then returned to Brazil and secured a collection of plants for introduction, which he consigned to Mr. Hogg, who the corner of Broadway and Twenty- third street, New York City. Among trees. After the plants had been held in a greenhouse for a year, in_ order to allow them to recover from the ef- fects of the long sea voyage which they had undergone, they were for- warded to the owner in Florida. Dur- ing the Seminole War the owner was charged with giving aid and comfort to the enemy, and the entire collec- United States troops. The owner then moved to Haiti. Q. How does one say “Till we meet again” in Italian, German and French? N. T. A “A riverderci,” “Auf wiedersehen” and “au revoir.” orange | D. turist. It is not certain, however, that | by Mr. Saunders were the first which | had been brought to the United States, | his | at that time conducted a nursery at| these plants were several navel orange | tion of plants was destroyed by the | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Q. Why are disinfectants d not_to come in contact with the skin? N. N. | A. 1t is because disinfectants destroy tissue chemically, as, for example, boil- ing water is an excelient disinfectant, but cne is aware of the sensation when boiling water touches the skin. Q. Where were carbonated beverages first sold?’—H. A. B. A. The first carbonated beverage was produced by an_American, Town- | send Speakman, a Philadelphia drug- gist, who supplied most of the medi- cinés for Gen. Washington's armies. Mr. Speakman, at the request of a then prominent Philadelphia physician, Dr. Philip Cyng Physick, undertook to invent apparatus to produce carbonat- ed water. Dr. Physick had become in- terested in the medicinal possibiliti of carbonated water because of expe | ments commenced by Joseph Priestley, the famous English sclentist, in 1772, and desired to prescribe it for one of his patients. Mr. Speakman succeeded in producing carbonated water and Dr Physick prescribed its liberal use by his patients. The result was so satis- factory that Dr. Physick recommend- ed carbonated water to many of his patients and other friends. Soon many Philadelphians were visiting Speak- man’s shop. located at what s now 1108 South Second street, Philadelphia, daily for a glass or two of carbonated water. Q. Are all the monks of Tibet proper- ly called “lamas”?—P. D. A. Lamas, according to Thibetan customs, are those monks who have | become ' distinguished for wisdom and saintliness. Members of the higher or- ders are looked upon as reincarnations | of departed saints. | o Q. What is being done with the | money collected by the Citizens' Guild of Washington’s Boyhood Home?—P. N. A. Thus far the receipts have been devoted to the restoration of the Gen. Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop and a contribution to the Wakefield project of $1,000. Q. Do some States require reduced | rates ;u;trc:l cars for school children? A. The American Electric Railway Assoclation says: “With respect to the States that require reduced or half-rate street car fare for school children, so far as our records indicate, no State laws require transportation companies to provide reduced or half-rate tickets for school children. We believe, how- | ever, there are a few companies which are required to provide reduced rate tickets for school children by local ordinances, and still other companies provide this rate voluntarily. The great bulk of the companies throughout the country, however, do not provide such reduced rate transportation.” BACKGROUND OF EVENTS How we feted Queen Marie of Ru- mania when she visited America, even while Protestants, Catholics and Jews were uniting in an appeal to civilization that justice and protection, as guaran- teed "in the Paris treaty, should be vouchsafed to all minorities in her kingdom! It is a kingdom of some 18,000,000 population—nearly half as great as that of France—ruled until “yesterday” by Bratianu and his party of aristocrats, while 80 per cent of the tpeople are peasants and 85 per cent of the male peasants and 95 per cent of the female cannot read or write. It is a people who, until half a century ago, were under Turkish rule, and who after the Great War, ending 10 years ago, were cencocted out of the inhabitants of ad- jacent territory and made up of mi- norities who cannot understand each other’s speech, but who are now forced to submit to receive instruction for their children in a “foreign” language and to support the Orthodox Greek Church or be accused of disloyalty to the government and patriotically per- :secuted to the very margin of death. * Kk K * Now Bratianu has been overthrown and a new cabinet is to be formed by the leader of the Peasant party—that party made up of illiterates constituting 80 per cent of the people. This is, in- deed, a government crisis of epochal importance. Not that the leader of the Peasant | party, Dr. J. Maniu, himself is illiter- | ate; far from it! He is experienced in | politics; he has been the head of a gov- |ernment before. That was soon after | the close of the World War, although |it is sald that he held the office of premier only by suffrance of the “Lib- erals” led by the late J. J. Bratianu, brother of the recent premier. ok The overturning of the Bratianu government is hinged apparently upon a mere trifle, but it could not have occurred if conditions had not been accumulating against the regime which has seemed to be supreme since Greater Rumania was formed at the close of the World War. Intolerance and persecution have been dominant for 10 years, and the mere giving of land to the peasants no longer placates them in the face of practical oppres- sion in so many ways. It is not as- sured that, even under 'peasant rule, the persecution of the minorities will cease. Ignorance makes for petty bul- lying even from the subordinates in office, and Rumanians have never known any other method of exercising rower than by bullying and persccu- lon of the defenseless. When the negotiations of peace were under consideration in Paris, in 1919. the Rumanian representatives laid great hopes for liberty upon Article 21 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. ‘This paragraph is quoted from “Greater Roumania,” by Charles Upson Clark: . “The high contracting parties agree in declaring that no obstacle shall in- terfere with the free exercise of every belief, religion or opinion whose prac- tice not incompatible wth public order and morals, and that in their respective jurisdictions no one shall be disturbed in his life: liberty or pur- suit of happiness by reason of his ad- herence to such belief, religion or opinion.” But when the Rumanians, suppos- ing that that clause expressed Amer- ica’s intent, discussed it with Clemen- ceau, he referred them to President Wilson, who told them that “nothing could be done for the moment.” In- ternational diplomacy was too in- volved. Yet some such clause was in- serted Into the Rumanian constitu- tion—and then overlooked for 10 years in the pragtice under that constitu- tion. The’ comments following that disappointment, as recorded in Clark's “Greater Roumania,” are enlightening, just at this time. “Roumania’s generous desires, em- bodied in the law of June, 1919, were too advanced for the conference. The British constitution forbade a Roman Catholic to become sovereign or chief Jjustice. The French republic and the Kingdom of Italy were not on cordial terms with the Vatican. Every one knows that a Catholic, Jew or Moham- medan could never be elected Presi- dent of the United States. But what definitely killed Roumania’s enlightened proposal was a clever move on the part of the Japanese delegates, They saw an opportunlt{ to secure a pronounce- ment of equality of races, as a corollary of the decree of religioys tolerance; and the American representatives, who had places it. This, I think, has been the truly scientific spirit in which Emil BY PAUL V. COLLINS. no hesitation in condemning Rou- manian discrimination against the Jews, were suddenly confronted with the moral obligation to urge the repeal of the ‘grandfather clauses’ of the | Southern ~States, and of the anti- | Japanes> legislation of the Pacific | Slope. The conference could of course, | through the League, abolish war, but | racial discrimination in the United | States was beyond its jurisdiction; and {the American opposition forced the Roumanians to withdraw their pro- | posal.” Then the allies and Rumania entered into a treaty in which Rumania spe- cifically agreed (Article 7): “Differ- ences of religion, creed or confession | shall not, prejudice any Roumanian na- tional in matters relating to the enjoy- ment of civil or political rights, as, for instance, admission to public employ- ments, functions and honors, or the exercise of professions and industries. “No restrictions shall be imposed on | the free use by any Roumanian national of any language in private intercourse, |in commerce, in religion, in the press or in publications of any kind or at public meetings.” But this liberty was confined to “na- tionals"—to citizens—and it was soon demonstrated that it did not cover the thousands of Jews and Christians who |are not citizens. The population of the annexed territory was required by law to produce documentary proofs that they had been actual citizens of the regions annexed; otherwise they were ineligible to become ‘“nationals” of Greater Rumania. Rumanians profess to fear ultimate domination by the |Jews, who today number less than | 800,000 in a total of 18,000,000. So they throw all possible obstacles to their ac- quirement of citizenship, The same at- titude applies to Rumanians who have become Baptists or Presbyterians or Ro- | man Catholies. * ok K ok ‘There has been published within the last few weeks a book entitled “Roumania Ten Years After.” It is a report of certain commissioners sent from America to investigate that country, by the American committee on the rights of religious minorities. The committee includes Chief Justice Taft, Mr. Herbert Hoover, the late former | Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, and a score or more of other very prom- :ngr& Americans—Senators, bishops and | rabbis. | __The report more than verifies the fragmentary news that has persisted | concerning persecutions of both Jews iand Christians, the latter not adhering to the Orthodox Church, and in the Appendix, written by a French pastor who accompanied the Americans, ap- pears a paragraph which is read with dismay by those who maintain hopes from the change of power, now falling into the hands of peasants, 80 per cent of the total population being illiterate: “Our people, they have told me,” writes Pastor Jules Jezequel, “are a | peasant people, poor and ignorant. These peasants, naturally live in the country. This hands the towns over | to the Jews, and permits them to in- vade the banks, and to take possession of commerce and industry. We saw the danger of our country being led and exploited by the Jews, strangers who hate us, and whose race are sowers of ruin and anarchy. This is a mortal danger to our country. We have noti- fled the government of the danger, but it has not moved in the matter. We have appealed to tha Intellectuals, to the ‘elite.’ We have been met with only silence and inertia on their part. Therefore. seeing that no one will aet for the good of the country, we have taken the only course that remained :to us, that of violence. We do not pretend to solve the question in that way, but to establish the o So Pastor Jezequel add: It has been so established and brutally. During the years 1923, 1924, 1025, 19026 and { 1927, with or without pretext, disturb- ances have not ceased in the universi- | ties of Rumania, which have had to | be closed several times.” * k ¥ % The persecution is not confined to Jews. The American committee re- ports: “Often the Baptists are prevented from holding their services. Worship- lers are often surprised by the en- |darme on their way to and from serv- ice, are arrested, put in prison and maltreated in a most disgraceful way. In one case a Baptist preacher in Bes- sarabla was beaten until he bled, and then put in prison, with his wife and two children. Another preacher was condemmed for seven months in prison for preaching. * * * In the district of Cernauti, a gendarme came into the house of a Baptist and removed with his weapon a motto from the wall, saving that such things were not al- low2d in Rumania. * * * Wa were in- Ludwig has built up from Goethe him- self the only business that the public can possibly have with this great ex- ponent of German [hllolnphy and' scicnce and }{hl ark of poetry, . formed that in December, 1926, a group of P-ptists were driven by gendarme int> th> river in Securini, and held waist deep in the icy water four hours.” (Copyrisht. 1928. by Paul V. Colins.)