Evening Star Newspaper, November 20, 1928, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR ‘With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C TUESDAY....November 20, 1928 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .Editor The Evenlngsstnl Newsnaper Company ce Rate by Carrier Within the City. fhe Evenine Star 45 rer month « Eveninz aid Sunday Star (when 4 Sundays) The Evening and Sunday Star (when 5 Sundays). . 65¢ per month “The Sunday Star 5¢_per copy Collectian made at the end of cach month Orders may be sent in by mail or teleshon Main ~000. B0c per menth | | ‘nccepv, the nomination on his duty to his family. It is quite clear that Mr. | Roosevelt, nominated for governor in jorder to strengthen the chances of Gov. {Emith in his race for the presidency, {now finds himself occupying the lime- light probably to a far greater degree | {than he conceived as possible. he chould carry New York State while | Gov. Smith was losing the State to! | Herbert Hoover was admittedly a possi- | bility during the campaign. but it was 1 possibility that Gov. Smith's followers { considered fantastic. Gov. Smith has much to be grateful | for to Mr. Roosevelt. No leader ever| |had a more sincers, a more s2lf-sacri- ficing foliower. It who placed Gov. Smith’s name in nomi- THE EVENING islative battles. Mr. Oldfield was in his fifty-fifth !year, a comparatively young man, despite his twenty years of service in { Congress. | country 8s a soldier in the Spanish- American War, enlisting as a private. That | He was mustered out of the Army as 2! Hz beceme pyosecut- | entered politics. | ciated Press dispatch. first leutenant. ing attorney and Sound in judgment, genial and with a great capacity for making friends, he went rapidly ahead. Licensing Solicitors. 1t iz to b2 hopad thet the special com- mittee appointed by the Commissioners to draft suggesied amendments to the | District's antiquated license law will In his youth he sarved his | health, and he based his reluctance wlcn hand to take part in important la:-' | STAR. WASHINGTON. D. C. THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. A recluse in Wisconsin left among her effects scores of sewing machines and organs, which sold at auction for 16 and 75 cents apiece, according to an Asso- Collectors of all sorts of things smiled in sympathy at that item. Whose busi- ness was it if the old lady chese to purchase 100 sewing machines and an untold number of organs? She no doubt was regarded as eccen- tric, but she enjoyed the possession of her machines and her organs, and evi- dently minded her own business. After all, that is the collector's duty. to ealmly eollect his specialty, no matter what others may think of the hobby. TUESDAY. In the entrance hall, sitting on a pedestal, where all might see. would be a primitive crystal set of the year 1923. "It would occupy this prominent tmsmcn because, everything being taken nto consideration. it still remains the most wonderful thing in radio. That & new electric set, with eight tubes, can bring in broadcast music does not strike us today as so wonder- It has a power plant behind it. That a simple coil of wire and a small bit of crystal can do the same thing. although on a lesser scale. still remains one of the miracles of this miraculous universe. In the living room, directly across from the latest type receiver. would be NOVEMBER 20. *1928. NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM BY FREDER There iz no other agency in the, | i ¥ | world that can answer as many legiti- | | PR Ol O tceane” ay/Pdham | ate questions as our free Information S b {Barend in Washington. D. C. This With the weathered soil of half a | highly organized kwt:!lmutm has becr; thousand years packed in upon him, | built up and is under the personal Francois Villon, willful and insurgent, direction of Frederic J. Haskin. By keeping in constant touch with Fed- refuses the ultimate decree against all p:ulphgfelus and other educational en- mankind, rejects death and oblivion. terprises it is lrh :“posig:a‘n to ga;s m} v, —Sa Y to you authoritative [ormatio of A Peflo:icall!, therefore—say once in a | the highest order. Submit your queries ‘ | hundred years or more or less—Villon, | to the staff of experts whose services | | insolent one, repudiates the grave and | are put at your frec dlsp{\s:l. There steps out in challenge of the genius thar, | s 10 _charge, except 2 cents in coin | has followed upon e . Splus thal | stamps for return postage. Address | t™%s to savor once again upon his twist- | The Evening Star Information Bureau, |ed 1ips the world that he so loved and | Frederic J. Haskin, director. Washing- hated, that so hated and loved him n, D. C. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 1. HASKIN. Q. _How much higher is the le the Pacific Ocean at the Isthm! t Panama than that of the Atlantic?-— W. R. G. © A. The mean level of the Pacific Oceen at the Isthmus of Panama ha: been found to be about 8 inches higher than the mean level of the Atlantic In the month of February the meag levels are the same, but throughout th~ rest, of the vear, on account of current tidal and wind influences. th: mean level of the Pacific ranges above that of | the Atlantic. It is as much as onc | foot higher in Oectober. Q. What is the average age of sti- dentz in correspondence schools?>—M. B A. According to the Carnegie Fomun- Probably sewing machines are as good as anything else. There is no teiling what will fascinate a human being. So_many minds, so many tastes! 3 Picture the old lady with a penchant natien for President ot the last three | Democratic nationel conventions. Gov. |study the conditions now prevailing in 1000: | mo- 83¢ |Smith has had his chence -4 Mr. | house-to-house soliciting, and that its | $85: 1 B8 4% | Roosevelt had much to do with giving | Fecommendations will include measures dation in the year 1924, corresponeance schools enro'led a total of 150%000 | stucerrs, The average age of o rre- | spondence students is approximatel? 31 | vears. Adult education of this type is that old three-tube regencrative set of | And not ever before has the recru- the year 1924—or was it 1925? | descence of this wastrel poet of the 1t had enough dials and gadgets on | Middle Azes been so fitly timed as is the its penel to satisfy the most greedy | present one. That he has heen wel- | Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. $1000. 1 @. What are the gate receiots from M foot. ball for a season?—R. G. M. A. The receipts last Fall ran to about $50,000.000. with a total attendance of atly and Sunday aily only : z Bunday cnly ] 1 1 | him that chance. While there are those | All Other nada. atly and Sunda atly only ... Bunday onty States and Ca 12.00 3¢ | 50c i Member of the Associated Press. ot ey d The Associated Press 1s exclusively ent to the use for republicstion of all e patches credited to 1t or aot athers, d- fted tn this paper and also the .ocal news | published herein. All rights of publication of ; Special dispatches herein are also reserved. | —_— N Cut It Short! A severe rebuke was yesterday ad- ministered by the United States Su- preme Court to the legal representa- tives of New York City and tre transit corporaticns seeking a higher rate of | fare. The cas: was racently srgucd on | appeal. Expectation was that a deci- | sion would be forthcoming vesterda; True to ths tradition of the stock-gam- | bling game, whispers had gone forth | that the highest court had “lceked” the | secret that the decision wouid be favor- sble to the transit companies. So the stocks of the corporations went up in| the market. Then came the announce- | ment that, instead of rendering a deci- | sion, the court had ordered a reargu- | ment. But this was not all. The case | was ordered for rehearing bhecause it had been presented too voluminously | in the first instance. Never before, so | far as the memory of man runs, has the | court thus publicly chastised tne counsel | in any cese. 1 In the statement of this case to the | Supreme Court the city and the Tran- sit Commission filed seven briefs, with | a total of 992 pages, and the tvo transit | companies involved filed uine briefs | with a total of 810 pages. Thus the court was asked to read and digest six- teen separate briefs of 1,802 pages, to- gether with appendices and copies of statutes, bringing the entire record up to 27700 pages—878,000 words. This the | court declined to do. It ordered that| the case be restored to tae docket for | reargument on the 14th of January, ! with the explicit direction that the old | briefs should not be filed, but that new | briefs should be offered, “compact, logically arranged with proper headings, eoncise and free from burdensome ir- relevant and immaterial matter.” The attorneys in this case on both sides are eminent practitioners of law, men of prominence in their profession and of long experience. They have been engaged in important cases in the past. Yet by the order of the Supreme Court of the United States tiey have been chided as though they were mem- bers of a class at school. And the jus- tice of the rebuke adm.aistered by the court is in effect admitted. In com- menting upon the court’s action, mem- bers of counsel acknowledge that their briefs were too voluminous. | Yet these briefs were not extraordi- nary examples of present-day legal papers. They were just th> sort of documents that are compiled and pre- | sented in courts throughout the coun- try in important cases, and .it is be- cause these are typical of ths matter laid before the courts that the judicial processes in this country are unbear- ably slow. The mere reading of the matter pre- sented to the court in this New York rapid transit case, 2,700 pages, com- prising 878,000 words, would cecupy one member of the court fully two weeks of diligent application with regard for intelligent understanding. No case should ever be presented to a court that cannot be fully comprehend- ed through perusal of printed matter by one day's reading. Whether that is the scale that is in the mind of the! Chief Justice in ordering a iehearing | of this case does not appzar. Probably | every member of the Supreme bench, as | of all other benches of this country, | would wish to see such a sca'e adopted. And it could be without risk of injus: tice, without the least danger to any good cause brought before a court. It is to be hoped that this action in | the New York rapid transit case will aet an example that will be followed | throughout the country in ail courts, State and Federal, to the end of a shortening of the records and a saving | of time in the discharge of the judicial | function of government. 1 ————————— | “Lame ducks” are compelled to remain | quiescent while wondering whether a | flocks of wild birds are coming to take their places. i | | | | | R The Roosevelt Star. Attorney General Ottinger, Republi- can candidate for Governor of New York, concedes his defeat by Franklin D.‘\ Roosevelt almost two weeks after the ! election was held. The official count of | the ballots, which has been in progress, | indicates clearly that the Roosevel tory cannot be overturned. The suc: of the governor-elsct had hesn conceded by the State and the ccuntry generally, | but the present announcement of his Republican opponent apaarently makes the matter unanimous. So Mr. Toceevelt has take:n success- fully the hurdle which may mark him as the man to rally his party for other presidential campaign in 1932, In 1930 he must again stand for election as governor, and must win ii he is to win finally to the leadership of the Democratic party. Even such cess may not place him in that leader- ship. But it would go far toward that end. ‘The Governor-elect of New York al- ready is “in the talk” as the probable Democratic candidate for President four years hence. His victory is the out- standing success of the Democrats in the recent disastrous compaizn. Picked by Gov. Alfred E. Smith to head the Democratic State ticket, Mr. Roosevelt #greed reluctantly to make the race for s100 | who believe that Gov. Smith may be- ! testimony before the district attorney | termine the extent of the injuries in- come the standard bearer of thz Demo- | cratic party again in 1332, the great bulk of the Democrats take no stock in | such progrostication. If they are .- | tect, it seems cnly reasonable that Gov. | Smith should desire to throw the weight | of his influsnce back to Mr. Roosevelt | when it comes time to nominate for| Precident again. The influence of Gov. Smith in the next Democrati national convention natyrally will be very great. Roosevelt is a name with which to con- Jure in many parts of this country. ————————— The Vestris Inquiry. It would appear from yesterday's in New York in the inquiry into the| Vestris disaster that thes mystery re- | garding the wircless m from Capt. Carcy, commander of the ill-fated steamer, has been dispelled. A search , of all the records of radio stations | 2shore shows no dispatch from the Ves- | tris prior to Capt. Carcy’s actual call for aid that would indicate realization that the ship was in peril. The effect of thiz showing is to put upon the dead captain the full responsibility for the delay in summoning help. It does not, however, in any way bear upon the | question of whether the ship left port in an unseaworthy condition. Testi- mony on that point should be obtain- able. It is known that the ship was “touched” in collision with another ves- sel shortly before she sailed on her last voyage. It does not appear that an ex- haustive examination was made to de- g3 flicted. One witness stated yesterday that he had been ordered to examine the point of contact, and that he had corrected the condition with a coat of paint. It is all too evident that something was wrong on the Vestris. She sprang a leak in a high sea, and made water more rapidly than her pumps could dis- charge. Just how that water entered the ship is not yet determined. It may have been through a carelessly fastencd coal port, through a seam opened by the | force of the collision or through some | hatch not properly closed. Other ships in the same area, hit by the same| weather, were not badly affected. It is significant, that this ship alone of the dozens that were at sea in the zone of the storm sprang a leak and went atilt end finally foundered. { The British press is bitterly com-| menting upon the methods of the| American district attorney who is now endeavoring to learn the truth about this tragedy. It must be remembered that Mr. Tuttle prefaced his investiga- tion with the statement that all he de- sired to do was to collect testimony while it was available, He is performing a valuable service, and no amount of hostile criticism by British commenta- tors should deter him from his task. It is a matter of vital importance to the | sea-traveling public of this country. The fact that the ship that was lost was of British registry does not lessen the right of American authorities to learn whether she was properly condi- tioned or handled. Nor should regard for the fine traditions of British sea- manship. prevent the development of the picture of the commander of the Vestris—a picture which is steadily be- coming more clear as that of a man of indecision, bad judgment and finally jorders for out-of-town concerns. desizned to improve such conditions. As the law now stands, those who go from house to house selling and delivering articles must be licensed. who merely solicit orders for future de- livery escape any supervision and do not require licenses. This, on its face, appears to be not only discriminatory, but is an inadequate safeguard for th: houscholder who, many times a day, must answer the doorbell and possibly trensact business with a stranger. The license should be required not merely to derive a just revenue from what is often a lucrative business, but as a means of identifying and keeping a check upon those who, many times a day, enter private homes. The cost of the license fee would do little to abate what cften becomes a downright nui- sance. The payment of a nominal fee would not eradicate the solicitor or agent who goes from house to house ringing the doorbell. But it would en- able the householder to know that the person with whom he deals is registered and known to the authorities, and that the company he represents is responsible and able to fill the orders taken. Records indicate that the majority of house-to-house solicitors are taking Is it fair that these foreign concerns should be able to compete with Washington merchants without the payment of even a nominal tax? Or is it logical that while a man who sells a pencil at the door must have a license, his brother | who comes after him and takes an or- der for a pencll later to be delivered by the postman does not have to be licensed? The intent of the license law, in this case, should not be to prevent house- to-house canvassing, but to provide the authorities and the householder with a means of identifying those who engage in the business. If the amended law does not cover this class of unlicensed vendors, the law will fail to correct one of the conditions which it most assured- ly should cover. R It might be easier to teach evolution in two or three States if the anthropoid influential to conduct schoolbook propa- ganda. i Among the climate myths that stand discredited is the katydid, supposed long ago to have been announcing “six weeks till frost! It has proved as unreliable as the ground hog himself. Investigation of the Vestris disaster will be followed with close interest by conscientious experts of the sea, anxious to be conducted. A number of members of Congress will devote some time during the Christmas holidays to regretful reflec- tions on the fact that, politically speak- ing, there was no Santa Claus. D Metropolitan gangsters imitate the laudable career of Thomas Edison only in one respect; that of learning to do without sleep. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON, Modern Marvels. fatal mistake, whose chief merit was| that he died with his ship. —r——a It is the battleship which carries a distinguished Government representa- | tive on a peace mission that really “means business.” ARt | Even his most ardent admirers cannot | expect Gov. Al Emith to go on talking | and shaking hands without interruption | for the next four years. | ———————— A seat on the Stock Exchange implies that a broker will be kept on tip-toe during trading activities, with very:‘ little chance to sit down. | oo | William A. Oldfield. | Some men win to place and power through cold, selfish strength, climb-} ing upon the backs of their fellows. | Others reach the goal through less cgotistical means, through hard work and ability, but with a kindly regard | for their associates. To the latter class onged Willam A, Oldfield of Arkansas, Democratic whip of the | House. “Billy” Oldfield numbered his friends by the hundreds. He was asj popular with the Republicans in the | House as he was with the members of his own party. His death will leave & | real gap among them. | Mr. Oldfield was 2 native of Arkansas. | a strong believer in his native State and its peonie. They had faith in him. Ten times they elected him to be a member of the House to represent the second congressional district. Two | weeks ago he was their choice to rep- resent them n the Seventy-first Con- | gress. For many years he had been a member of the important ways and means committee of the House. As a member of that committee he had made a careful study of tariff and revenue legislation. During the recent campaign Mr. Oldficld served as chairman of the| Democratic national congressional cam- paign committee, a position which he occupied in earlier congressional cam- | | paigns. He gave unstintingly of his | strength to his party. In recent years | he traveled across the continent many | times, East and West and North and They had monsters mastodonie, Long ago. Great grotesquery was chronic Where the show On the shore or in the thicket Makes me wish I'd bought a tick-t At some big box office wicket, Long ago. Planes and motors were not dashing, Long ago. Now, the fiery eyes are flashing, High and low. Earth in primitive condition Should have asked polite permission For a small-time exhibition, Long ago. Great Liberality. “You deny that republics are un- grateful?” “Emphatically,” Sorghum. too liberal. Every once in awhile some republic has made some historic per- sonage a present of the entire country simply because he put up an able ora- tion at the psychological moment.” answered Senator Jud Tunkins says protection may be a great idea in politics—unless it hap- penz to be “police protection.” As Time Passes. . The troubles of a year ago Grow smaller, as time rolls away. It will be much the same, we know, With all the troubles of today. No Competition. “Does your wife let you have the last word in en argument?” “There is never any question on that point,” answered Mr. Meekton, cheer- fully. “When Henrietta talks, there is no argument.” “He who speaks untruthfully,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “invites the disappointment of one who seeks to engage in business with only a capital of counterfeit money.” Ovation. | Our adulation still expands, Where eager crowds have forward pressed. { With everybody shaking hands, How can a hero get a rest? South, to rally the Democrats to battle. governor, For several yeers he has c:- ,¥2ged in & great struggle to regain his In the House itself hia duty was to have the Demar“n.e always In line and “De loud-talkin' man," ‘said Uncle Eben, “is mighty liable to be relyin’ more on cough drops dan on fins" But those | apes were sufficiently intelligent and ! to ascertain-how navigation ought not “If anything, republics are | i f | some interference, | and 4,000,00 for sewinz machines. From childhood these contraptions held her fancy. Maybe she went a long time before she was able to purchase one. Then ceme wealth, and with money she was able to gratify her desire for more and better sewing machines. She soon became known to dealers. When a dealer had a machine he couldn't sell to any one elsc, he knew exactly where he could dispose of it. The few privileged to enter her home stumbled over sewing machines in the hall, in the parlor, in the dining room. There were 10 in the Kitchen, and the upstairs rooms were lined with them. ¥ lew In her childhood the small portable organ, pumped with the feet, was the ultimate in home musical instruments. Phonographs, piano players and radios were unknown. To own an organ Was ths ambition of every one. The first organ, however, left her unsatisfied. She wanted—and got— another, by that action showing fhe discriminating that she was a true collector. “What docs she want of another organ, for goodness sake?" breathed & scandelized neighbor. From her tone of voice, one might have imagined that the money came out of her own pocket. ‘When the recluss plunged heavily on her ninety-sixth organ, the town went mad. “Why, do you know she has 96 organs, and won't play on a one of them!"” Evidently the town wanted her to put on the surprising feat of a woman playing on 96 organs at once. The recluse refused to entertain them with such an ambidextrous achievement. She got her fun looking at her mu- sical instruments. Every morning she went around and dusted them carefully, noting with in- ward satisfaction the differenccs between the case designs. One had a molding around the edge; its_brother or sister had not. Such little differences constitute the silent joy of collectors. *iek ¥ We heard of a man the other day who had 11 radio sets in his basement. He was regarded as extravagant, but we say that it was nobody's business except his own. The only faulf, to be found with him He should have installed one in every room in the house. Then he might have had a museum showing the ad- vance of radio in the home. The heart of cvery radio “fan” will thrill at the prospect. was that he kept them in the basement. | person eager for things to turn. You turned this, and you turned that, and you adjusted the little jigger on the left and you twisted the little jigger on the right. And still nothing happened! AW A In the dining room, nccupying a glass cabinet, would be enshrined the first homemade neutrodyne. How many hours of patient adjustment you put upon getting those three coils slanted in unison! Other rooms of the home would see later sets, ranging from the three-dial affairs to the first “one-dial” set, the first illuminated dial and the first real electric with straight A. C. tubes. Such a collector might be regarded as a “nut” by those not interested in radio. Some neighbors no doubt would say that it was a “shame” that Mr. Blank starved his family in order to | buy all those old radio sets. Why, his | little boy needed a new pair of shocs— “his toes are actually on the ground, my dear.” Yet . every eollector, whether of postage stamps, books, glass bottles, in- sects, birds' eggs, or whatnot, instantly understands and appreciates the col- lector of radio sets, the collector of sewing machines, the collector of small home organs. It is not so much what is collected as the very deed of collecting that counts in the long run. It seems a matter of no importance, what is col- lected, but very important, indeed, that | something be collected. Collecting shows interest. Interest iz the heart of life. Man being con- | stituted as he is, he must be interested less—thhn himself. Such personal interest is best ex- pressed, however, in external things which appeal to some chord in mind or heart. Thus we have the spectacle— noble, enheartening—of men and women | turning to education, charity and other ways of helping others. Such collections of good deeds con- stitute the highest reaches to which collecting may aspire. Short of it, the average man or woman may benefit himself or herself by collecting almost any worthwhile thing. Not every one can be a collector of good deeds, but almost any une will be able to specialize on books, music, ob- jects of naturs, machines, so diverse are nature and man and their produc- tions. Nor does it make any difference what shall become of the collection ulti- mately. It is the collecting which counts. Public Accepts Newspaper comment on broadcasting under the Federal Radio Commission’s reallocation reflccts public patience and a willingness to await the outcome of a practical trial even on the part of those most dissatisfied with existing difficul- ties and inequalities. “The plan is a tremendous experi- ment, in which all broadcasters and re- ceivers should co-operate so far as pos- sible,” says the Rutland Herald. while the Topeka Daily Capital, accepting the view that the regulation must be “in the public interest, convenience and necessity,” suggests that “the job of radio supervision is full of trouble, but if the commission in fact follows this prineiple it will serve the greatest inter- est of the greatest number.” in the opinion of the Kalamazoo Ga- zette, “have the satisfaction of know- ing that their Federal commissioners have struggled bravely with one of the most complex scientific problems of the age and that the program now in force represents the work of the best brains’ in the country.” ~The Jersey City Journal feels that “it is too soon to tell exactly how great the advantage of this new allocation of wave lengths is to be, but the start has been and the improvement may prove effec- tive in its main purpose.” * % oK * “Restrictions irk and individual in Des Moines Tribune-Capital, but it adds that “the freedom of a world of order i= more real than the freedom of & world of chaos” and the Nashville Benner remarks: “It is an_egregious error to suppose that the radio fan today cares @ penny's worth whether the station he gets is located in Ten- nessee or lowa. The thing that does have application is whether one can get the worth-while program without oo much trouble.” “If there is a necessity of Nation- wide regulation of this problem, and if Congress had the right to apply or bestow regulatory powers, minor obsta- cles along the way will not block progress,” declares the Sioux City Daily Tribune, and the St. Paul Pioneer Press advises: “Until the stations get settled into their new wave lengths, power and hours of broadcasting there may be but the opinion of experts is that reception will be greatly benefited by the changes. Listeners should withhold their judgment while the new arrangement is in the experi- mental stage.” Patience while matters are being i e e UNITED STATES N WORLD WAR Ten Years Ago Today. R The American Army of Occupation and found the Stars and Stripes in Luxembourg and Lorraine. * * According to Berlin advices, enormous stores of foodstuffs were found in the castle of the former German Emperor in Berlin, the value of which would total several hundred thousands of marks. * ¢ Up to October 31 1,580,000 German soldiers were Killed 0 wounded, some of them Dispatch also states day fiying several times. German prisoners _in hostile coun- tries. * * * British government warns Germany she must stop cruelty to British prisoners or get no food. * * * The Ukrainian government has been overturned, and Kiev has been cap- tured by Gen. Denikine, at the head of a pro-ally Cossack army. Official Washington satisfied that the over- throw of the Bolshevist regime wil reatly aid the allies in handling the ussian problem. * . * * To the of bells in the great cathedral and Jm cheering of massed crowds, the King and Queen of the Belglans made a state entry into the City oi Antwerp today through brilliantly deco- rated streets, * * * Allied diplomate in Paris are busy working out details of a great gathering at the coming peace conference. The voting power of th allied nations is a big problem, anc danger is seen of giving the smail na tions. an equal voice the larger nations, “The radio enthusiasts of the Nation,” | ‘radio | cases work out injustice.” observes the | crossed the frontier into Germany to-| that there were on that date 490,000, in decisions with | With Patience Trial of Radio Reallocation brought. nearer to a point of perfection is advised by many papers, Including the Baltimore Sun, Manchester Leader | and Lansing State Journal. The Leader asserts: “There has not been much in- dication of a disposition to accept, the counsel of the commission to be patient. during the weeks or months that will be necessary to enable the stations to ‘shake down their assignments.’” The Sun points out that “the commission frankly stated that it was trying out an experiment, one which had received much scientific and expert considera- tion.” * ok ok % “The chief beneficiaries of the new arrangement,” says the Cincinnati Times-Star, “are to be listeners-in in rural districts remote from stations large enough to broadcast chain pro- grams received over the telephone. The idea is reasonable enough. It is true that people in the larger cities have had the better of radio. The trouble is that the reallocation plan forces Cin- cinnati and the surrounding territory to make an altogether disproportionate sacrifice. We do not know of any large city whose listeners-in have been called The effect on the cities is observed also by the Boston Transcript, which, however, offers the general opinion: “Many of the city stations which have been operating on a relatively high wave In the past and have been cut | down will suffer, perhaps seriously, from | building absorption of their ~signal | energy, which cannot be removed. This | means that_their signal strength will | be much lessened and in some cases their signals may not come through at all. With some listeners, moreover, the fault will be in the receiving sets, which. will lack the power to bring the | signals through as formerly. Some of the new sl?uls. in fact, may not be on | the dials of some of the old sets at all. More modern sets will not have this trouble. Patience for a few days may relieve the general situation.” “Fans will be grateful for any aerial traffic regulation which promises sur- cease from the conflict that has torn the ether,” says the New Orleans Item, while the Binghamton Press reviews the matter in these words: “It is too soon, perhaps, to expect the radio public to pass reasoned judgment upon the suc- cess of the changed broadcasting schedules and all should remember that the ultimate effect sought is greatly imoroved reception fdr all parts of the country. * If the present re- allocations do not work out for the greatest benefits for the greatest num- ber a new plan will be tried.” " o Says Lightning Rarcly BY E. E. FREE, PH. D. Amateur photographers who happen “Ito have snapshots of lightning flashes | that fork upward like the branches of |a tree, instead of downward like. the {tines of a pitchfork stuck in the ground, will confer a favor on weather | science by letting that fact be known. As a result of a talk on lightning giv- en by Dr. G. C. Simpson last Septem- ber at the meeting of the British As- sociation for the Advancement of Science, search has been made in a number of collections of lightning pho- tographs. Virtually all of the flashes prove to have forked downward, not upward, as though the electric dis- charge started from the cloud as a single bolt and split up into several during its passage to the earth. But that upward-forking flashes do occur is proved by the discovery of a very few | photographs which show this upside- down type. Since no one could tell in advance when one of these rare | upside-down flashes was going to occur, 11t is unlikely that any.more such pho- tographs will be made intentionally. Experts suspect, however, that among the millions of lightning snapshots made by amateur photographers all over the world, it may be possible to i find some the forks of which point |upward, togsther with information of the time, place and conditions when these rare "v"'i oceurred, | | | in something, if it be no more—nor | upon to give up anything like as much.” | Flashes Upward, comed stands clear in the fact that, | within' a few wecks of each other, two important and competent studies of Vil- | lon have been published. Both of these are projected in that spirit of research which, above every other consideration, demands the full and exact truth of the matter under hand. It is such passion for truth that is, nowadays, fashioning the mind of the investigator into a keen-edged tool of research, into a per- fect balance for the weighing of related values, into an open channel of ac- ceptance for that which the subject out of its own pure essence delivers, uncon- taminated, as a legitimate and consid- erable part of the matter itself. It is that spirit which in the present devises meathods of straight approach, that ac- cepts only first-hand material as the basis to which may be added only such secondary stuff as can bear the rigid | test of authenticity. And all this is but the beginning of the work itself. It is i but the attitude of approach and appre- | ciation. * % % % Wyndham Lewis’ “Villon” is a thing tn read, deliberately, from cover to cover, from the middle to the end, frem the beginning to the middle—then, here and there many times to refresh further | some fugitive point of interest. By this time the reader has come into the satis- | fied contentment that a fine achieve- ment in any direction is certain to; rouse. Authentic, inclusive, complete, | well ordered and perfectly sustained | throughout, here, indubitably, is a tri- | umph of rare scholarship. Profound student and master craftsman joined | hands in this enterprise. But scholar- ship 25 an end in itself does not reach | far. Tt never has. It never will. In} this case, however, there is no danger. | since here it is but the means, and that | only in part, by way of which Wynd- | ham Lewis brings Francois Villon back to earth, setting him down in his own time and place, there to muddy his | owa life hopelessly, there also to cresée for_himself the immortality of genius. Reading here, one gets an immediate effect that is strange and exciting. He is literally back in the Paris of medieval days where, sometimes on bit- ter nights, wolves prowl hungrily the streets that run foul and stinking with the refuse of the town. More than this, the adventurer within this book does not stand by merely looking on at the pranks and outlawry of Villon and his gang. Not at all. He goes along instead from street brawl to drunken revelry at the tavern of Fat Margot or | another where Villon's “quick tongue | and readiness to sling a verse have made him welcome more than once or twice,” He even goes to jail with the rascal, suffering with him the fright- ful water torture, the “question.” faded in our own day to the still reprehensible “third degree.” Twice he suffers sentence of death with this thief and | | murderer, and twice by a miracle’s edge | | they both escape the sentence. To- gether, nervous and apprehensive, th | climb the hangman's hill of that day, Montfaucon, where upon creaking gib- | | Washington was accused of about. 30,000,000, Q. 1s there a mountal named for Mrs. Akeley, the explorer>—T. E. A. The Geographical Canada recently named a peal Jobe in honor of Mrs. Akeley ¢ Jobe Akeley). Q. How many United States patents in in Canada the widow of Board of k Mount Mary L. have been issued to Emile Berliner?—, . R, > A. About 40 patents have been issued to Mr. Berliner in this country. The first one was taken out in 1878, Q. Was Washlng'émfle\'er accused of competence?>—R. E. N. mA. %rlng the Revolution. in 1777, an intrigue was organized by ‘Thomas Con- way to displace Washington as com- mander-in-chief of the ~American Armies by Gen. Horatio Gates. ‘The association included, besides Conway and Gates, such men as Charles Lee, Thomas Mifiin and Benjamin Rush and was known as the “Conway Cabal” gross in- and I'avorn‘dsm. |l:u'. !ufl:‘- clent support was not given these men, s0 thntppgvlr schemes fell through. Conway was virtually forced to leave the service in 1778. competence in itself a significant mark of our prog- | ress as a people. Q. How large do bullhead catfish grow?—S. W. | ®"A. There are several species of bull- | head catfich, and the size varies with | the species. The largest ones run up e 18 inches, with a weight of 2 pounds. | @ oOn early crucifixes was Christ's | body clothed?—M. C. A. The early crucifixes, almost with- ‘ out exception, represent Him as clothed, | with a tunic reaching to His feet. In | the eighth century the custom was | modified. Q. Were any home induatries pro- tected In the first tariff act of th» United States?>—M. H. A. The first national tariff act was | passed by Congress, July 4, 1789. This | wes for the purpose of revemue, but | certain industries such as gl lcanhenwnre were protected. b ©. Why do sailors wear flaring | trousers?—G. E. | A. Sailors wear bell-bottom trousers | in order that they may be easily rolled {up when scrubbing the decks or when | wading in the water. BACKGROUND OF EVENTS RY PAUL V. COLLINS. The terror of such a disaster at sea as that of the sinking of the British steamer Vestris, with the loss of more than 100 passengers, brings a shudder as one realizes the mightiness of the ocean and the frailty of man. What has man’s ingenuity accomplished in all the centuries toward overcoming the ocean? How is it that watertight compartments which were supposed, at lenst by laymen, to make a ship un- sinkable, or that would hold it up until the radio could summon relief. have failed utterly in the case of the Vestris? 1t is not the function of a newspaper to answer why the modern devices broke down; that is for official investi- tion. The catastrophe, however, opens up a question as to ‘what are the mod- ern developments of safety at sea. PR Accident insurance statistics have long been used to prove that there is more danger to the average man or woman that he or she will die from a fall out of a window at home than that they will perish as passengers upon a modern steamship. Insurance against accidents takes that as a basis for low rates against ocean perils and higher rates against window-falling. In an article upon “Safety of Life t Sea,” written by Rear Admiral J. G. awresey, U. S. N. and publishad in Merchant Fleet News, the writer com- bets hang objects that once were men, | but that under the drench of rain and | {the burn of sun' and tne clawing of | hungry birds are just those swinging ' and_terrifying lengths of bone. And| | finally Villon is banished. No longer | i can his loved and hated Paris endure | | the strain of so much inventive wicked- | ness, of so much of lust for evil. Listen to this hour which the reader shares | to the depthg of him: “The last hour | with Master Guillaume de Villon may | | be well imagined also; the overhanging | cloud of sorrow; the forced cheerful- | mess of the old man; the visage of the | | poet, darker and more haggard than ever: the old priest and his servant | | striving to keep their grief in check | | by fussing over the boy’s bundle, his | change of hose, the half-pasty, the bot- tle of Beaune saved for him; and at | length the final embrace, the purse | thrust into his hand, the last benedie- tion muttered over his head by an old | man blinded with tears: the stooping | figure in its black gown standing in the { open doorway blessing and comfort. | ing the wanderer for the last time with | the cross, and the slouching figure of | the poet going heavily down the | {clolster." past this familiar place and | that one, on out and away to the | Orleans road. He died. Nobody knows when or where. Yet it is possible to picture him af the last, standing on the final hilltop of the Middle Ages. | | looking across toward the advancing | | dawn of the Renaissance. He is hurl- | ing into that shining abyss handfuls of bright gems, brilliant. diamonds of song. hard and imperishable, and with an oath he is crying out to the new day. | “Beat that if you can!” And it did not. | { It could not. | Beside the living Villon himself there | is here a study of his work. The qual- | | ity of his poetry is appraised, its forms | are analyzed, its mechanics described. It is a part of the whole, an equal part. but it is by the man himself that one will stay, certainly till he has read this | book many times. And one who read: it all will'go back to it over and over. | The pity of all life is in it. The meas- ure of genius is reasserted upon a new | and gpetter basis. How did Wyndham Lewis achieve this amazing reality from a long and mostly forgotten past? In the first place, he lived with that past for four years, just getting ready, just finding the feel of that old day in Paris. With a map of the medieval town he hunted out every remaining building, or street, | or site, that in any way related to the | | period ‘and particularly to the career uf | Villon. He absorbed the place and the time. He ate and drank and slept iand lived it all. Then “the book be- gan in my mind on a gray day, heavy | with snow, as I was loitering in the | courtyard of St. Julien-le-Pauvre, that little hidden church which is the heart | of the Latin Quarter and is so charged | with memory.” And he goes on to tail | about his absorption with the poet. “Villor T know almost as I know some of my friends. T have fingered manu- | seripts concerning him. I know his temperament. I know his faith and I I have at one time or another fallen into | some of his follies, excluding (at this moment) manslaughter and burglary. I have traced his footsteps in the banlicue and along the Loire,” and the story goes on of the ways taken by the author to identify himself, heart, body and soul, with the man whom he has so vitally presented, with the poet to whom he has here given such inspired atfention and interpretation. James Branch Cabell has a study of economy, applied not to money matters, but to genius. And he takes Kit Mar- lowe and PFrancois Villon as cases in support of his contention which fs that genius, in one or another of its forms. offers the only enduring beauty, the only hope of man's temporal future that human existence contains. These men, according to the common measure, were wasters, each a blot upon the moral life around him, each deliberately self-de- structive. Yet, since it took that sort of existence to create the deathless things of genius—why, this is nature’s highest | econemy to throw away the man's body. if need be, in order to provide the world with just another shred of enduring beauty. Most sketchy, this, and ecer- tainly an_unfair touch upon a lergs mestar. The pivot of the whole matter, | it ssems to me, is that as a rule these geniuse: stick as that which serves so adequately ments upon the exaggeration of safety at sea, even now, He says: “There i¢ no reason for any one to grow hysterical as regards the risk to ives at sea, neither is there any reason o follow the enthusiasts that declare the promenade deck of a passenger steamer the safest place in the world. Statistics for the last 55 years may show, as asserted in the recent ship- ping conference at, London, that pas- engers on British ships traveled the average of 20,000,000 passenger miles per annum to one drowning, or, for the Jast five years, one drowning to each 400,000,000 passenger miles traveled. Small as that risk is, it does not erase from our minds the Titanic. the Em- press of Ireland and the Drummond Castle, in addition to the scores of oth- er vessels with a much smaller number of passengers that have gone to sea and never been heard from. “The loss of 200 passengers per year drowned per annum for more than 50 vears is a loss of upward of 10.000 ives. If Columbus, following his first voyage, had continued to the present time to make one vovage of 3,000 miles each month, he would still be 4,000,000 | short of the average 20,000.000 passen- | ger miles to one drowning of & pas- senger. “The other side is that. according to the aver: . there would have been in that time a loss of 87.000 passengers by drowning, notwithstanding the fact that Columbus would still he short of the average mileage While the average rate of loss of life over the 55 years hes been much reduced for the last five vears. it i= a risk which should still engage our attention and- that chal- lenges our ingenuity to effect further reducetion.” PR There have been many devices in- vonted for making voyaging safer, which have been discarded after a practical trial. Many more so obviously jmpracticable that no test was neces- sary. It has been proposed that a false and floatable deck should cover all vessels, so that when the vessel sinks the deck would float off, in sec- iions, like so many life-saving rafts, with the passengers safely seated thereon. The inventor meant well, without actually seeing waves 40 to 60 feet high rolling over the rafts, as they do-over lifeboats, capsizing them un- mercifully. The impracticability of such rafts getting free from the rig- ging and other deck obstruction and away from the deadly vortex which a <inking ship creates generally was not considered. Some years ago It was boasted that all compartments of a ship could be instantly closed by pressing an electric button on the bridge. so that in case a ship began to leak the leakage would be confined to the particular compart- ment, while all the others would re- main watertight and the ship would be unsinkable. Tt was found that such an electric device was so complicated that it was almost always out of order so far as many compartments ware concerned. Now that is all abandoned and compartments are closed only by men under orders, stationed at every door. That is far more reliable than complicated electricity. especially in the Navy with a disciplined personnel. Again ‘quoting Admiral Tawresey: . “There is no such thing as an unsink- able ship. nevertheless the surest way 1o save life is to save the ship. The safety provisions that can be built inta a new ship, even though they may not prevent ultimate foundering, will length- en the time that she can be kept afloat. Every additional hour that the vessel is kept afloat multiplies in in- creasing ratio the chance to receive help.” oo Among the new devices and inven- tions which have come into use within tha last five vears is the radio compass. This 18 used in more than one way for guiding ships near shore. Radio waves for the common run. However, don't get into any discussion for a matter that cannot be settled. Instead, if vou are Interested In genius, go along with you will never forget, » o are sent out from a station on shore, and are picked up on shipboard in such a way that their exact direction is mani- fested. When the mariner thus receives waves from two such shore stations whose localities are charted, it is a sim- ple matter of triangulation to discover his own exact position at sea. Vessels have thus been located more than 200 miles from the sending stations. A later device is known as radio | synchronization, which is useful for sounding the depths of the sea. and also for locating and measuring the diz- tance of a vessel from the lightship sending out the waves. The radio wave travels with the speed of 1light—186,000 miles a second; the time required, therefore, for such a flash to register upon a receiver. 10 or 30 or 60 miles away is such an infinitesimal part, of a second that it is neglible in this test. But the speed of an actual sound—as the stroke of a mighty ham- mer or the explosion of a bomb under water—is about eight-tenths of a mile per second, or, measured in feet, from 4,800 to 4.900 feet per second. Sounds can be heard through the ocean water a distance of 60 miles or meore, but to travel 50 miles at the rate of 4.300 feet. per second requires 55 séconds. The receiving officer with _stopwatch in hand notes the differonce between the radio and the sound, just 4s one may note the difference between a flash of lightning and the peal of thunder— which difference indicates the distance of the storm. . This method enables the mariner to determme trom a single operation. without triangulation, the location of his ship from the charted source of the sound. Usually the same button of the sender which gives the radio flash also operates a great hammer under water, which makes the required sound: or an oscillator or a bomb for the same pur- pose. Sound travels through water much farther than through air. and such sounds can be registered under water a distance of nearly 70 miles. For measuring the depth and charting the ocean bed, the apparatus gives 23 | signals per second, the depth.being | known by the length of time required | for the sound wave to!descend from the ship. strike the botlom and echo up to the ship, as meadured by the known average speed of sound throvgh water—4,800 feet per second. The Le- viathan has been equipped within the last few weeks with the device. the en- tire cost of which is only $6,000. L e | ‘Three years ago, the Navy lost sev- | eral destroyer vessels because the com- mander became confused and doubted the accuracy of his radio compass. but if he had had this new radio-synchro- nizing device it would have told him of the dangerously shallow depths he was | sailing, and the fleet would not have | rushed blindly to its destruction on | Honda Point. Tt is more serviceable than a bow watchman equipped with | powerful glasses, depending on vision. | and the radio device is as good in fog a5 | in_clearest day. Light vessels for sending out the sis- nals to passing ships are stationed at strategic Foxnu along shore, and prac- tically all light vessels in the world now are equipped to send submarine signals and radio beacons. In place | of a bell now, there is substituted an | apparatus called an “osecillator,” which being dropped into the ocean causes an explosion which can be heard many miles farther than any bell. the average range being about 40 miles, but the extreme audibility being 70 miles. Scientific development of this device must be credited to the work of the | Bureau of Standards and the United | States Coast and Geodetic Survey, but | European coasts are today better pro- | tected with it than is America. The first use of the idea was made in 1911 by Admiral Winterhalter of the United States Navy, with a radio, a steam whistle and a submarine bell. In 1917, Comdr. Hooper of the Coast and Geodetic Survey experimented with ir, using_a submarine bell. But during | the World War . the Fessenden sub- marine oscillator was invented, which produces underwater sounds of enor- mous intensity and carrying power. It was only since the war that the metho- has been put to general use—in fact. only within the last five years. R | | | Another device of recent origin, but which applies to the guidance of a shin mechanically in place of by stezrsmen a, the wheel, is the gyro-compass. or “Iron Mike." the seaman calls it. Wh>n this is used, as upon the Leviathan, th* ship's course, once determined, is kept absolutely without deviation, by th: electric “Iron Mike"—far more accu- rately than possible by hand steering no matter how the winds and wa | may buffet. i So with all the devices of safety on 1 board a modern ship, it is accepted pol- icy based upon the idea that the best | way to save lives is ta save the ship, .rather than to abandoa ship prema- | turely and trust to rafts or lifeboats land life<preservers in the tempestuous !sea. Waves as high as a six-story house i make short work of little lifeboats, toss- ing them topsy-turvy. LI o In 1913, there was an international conference in London upon safely of ocean travel and elaborate })hm were jrecommended to increase safety. This | conference report was adopted by the | United States Senate, but with so many | exceotions and reservations that it was | practically re‘ected. Now a similar | conferenee is called to'be held in Lon- jdon next April. It has not yet been | determined whether the United States { i 1 re measured by the same yard- | Wyndham Lewis on an adventure that [ will participate. (Covyright. 1038, by Paul V. Collins.)