Evening Star Newspaper, December 23, 1928, Page 27

“UNIVERSITY” OF ARMY NEEDS MORE TEACHERS Student Body of Men Enrolled Correspondence Courses. Al kinds in the last century and a half, faces today another big assignment. It must provide fessors and instructors for a student dy of more than 40,000. Reports reaching Washington from various corps area commanders show that the enrollment this year in the correspond- enes courses which the Army conducts 0w citizen soldiers will exceed that namber, giving the Army a good claim %o conducting the largest university in e world. Business men, bankers, college stu- Wents, lawyers, doctors, dentists, clergy- men, engineers—men in almost every occupation—are represented in this Army university. Though the students y no tuition and thought the work hey do brings no addition to their pay ecks, they show great diligence and llingness to study. In the fiscal year that ended on June 3, the 35,000 students under instruc- n by the Army faculty completed in 11 659,000 hours of work. With an en- lment of 5,000 more than this, the current, year should bring this total {well over 700,000 hours. Training for Reserves. After the World War, the United tates found itself with a small Regu- Army again, a National Guard, and # third and new component of the mili- tary establishment, the Organized Re- rves. Uncle Sam provided the Regu- and the National Guardsman with facilities for professional training, but the reservist, in a sense, found himself & fish out of water. The Regular Army had to find a way of training him, ppart from the 15-day active training period which Congress was willing to give a limited number of Reserve offi- fpers each year. In 1922 the Army put into operation Ms first correspondence courses, which claimed to give reservists and others a ichance to keep up with the military profession. At the outset plans were gmade for an enrollment of 5,000 offi- cers. Even that number seemed for- midable. The plan was su¢cessful from fthe start. How successful it has proved ‘Toay be judged by the fact that the lent body in five years has grown m 5,000 to 35,000. In 1925 there was an enrollment of 21,000, and in 2 months these students had 170,000 thours to their credit. Last year the students did 659,000 hours of work. No civilized university, it is safe to say, Bhas ever grown faster. ‘Cost Put at $40,000. What does it cost Uncle Sam to give his instruction? So little that in com- parison_with the four billions that are Tequired to run the Government the gpproprh'.lon looks like small change. annual cost is about $40,000, and this included the distribution and Kmflnu of the texts, the printing of e lessons and the maps, etc. . The Post Office Department carries ¥ree of charge the lessons sent out to ghe pupils, the comments of the in- structors and the lessons which the gilent.s send back for correction. If HE American Army, which has done many jobs of different have an arithmetical bent of mind can figure out that the cost of a man for a year’s instruction is about $1.50. For an hour of instruction the «cost is 6 cents. Other factors, however, enter into the cost. The instructors are Army ©fficers, whose salaries the Government ys. Through the corps areas 600 Elw-s spend all or part of their time correcting papers. These officers sould be d other work if not as- ied to correspondence school duty. 1In addition, there are officers at each ‘of the service schools, and the head- iquarters of the chiefs of branches who =pend all or part of their time prepar- dng the subject matter for the 300 courses on the curriculum of the Army TUniversity. ‘The courses they prepare each year sre substantially the same as are given Yo Regular officers who pass a year at the varlous service schools. The cor- irespondence course In each subject may be a little more simple, but it rep- ‘resents practically the same work that 4s required of the Regular officers who 'go to these schools. There is this dif- ference: A reservist ordinarily will take three or four years to complete a full lcourse, whereas the student in the lar Army will complete the course & school year. Extensive System Operated. ‘To Regular officers the Army offers an extensive system of schools grading up- iward from West Point through the spe- clal service schools of the various ‘branches at Fort Sill, Fort Riley, Camp Benning and elsewhere to the command ‘and general staff school at Fort Leaven- worth. The Army War College, in ‘Washington, which trains officers for «duty on the general staff, stands at the peek of the Army educational system. Only those who graduate with dis- tinction from the lower schools are eligible to take the course here, and its \graduates have as much right to feel proud of their academic careers as those +who win a Ph.D. degree from Columbia or Cornell. School work bulks large in the peace-time routine of the Regular Army. The officer of today finds him- gelf a schoolboy much of the time. He As constantly studying the theoretical aspects of the military profession. Soldiering, on the other hand, is not ‘go main business in life of 110,000 e officers and the 10,000 officers of the National Guard. For 15 days a year they must be soldiers and, in the «case of the National Guardsman, an eve- ning or two a week. Their main job is & civilian one. The educational training and oppor- tunities open to the Regular officers are not open to them—unless they are to neglect their professional work. Hence the War Department had to find a method by which it could give the Re- servist enough instruction to keep him prepared to fill his military assignment if the country should need his services. 1In the development of the project, the first phase was experimental. Old- timers, naturally, were at first disposed to look a bit skeptically at schoolroom instruction. But those who had charge More Than 40,000 This Year in of the project were not to be discour- aged. They knew that correspondence schools had proved their value in train- ing men for law and business, They were convinced that a scientifi- cally prepared correspondence course could teach an intelligent civilian a great deal about the science of war. They did not then believe, nor does the general staff today believe, that you can make a good soldier by mail alone. Correspondence work can only help in the civilian’s training, but the help which it can give is much greater than many have thought possible. First Steps in 1924. In April, 1924, the War Department appointed a board of officers to prepare co-ordinated outlines of correspond- ence courses for all branches and for a command and general staff corre- spondence course. As soon as the chief of staff approved the report of this board, a correspond- ence course section was established at each of the Special Service Schools. Each section was told to prepare and keep on revising—when necessary—the material for the course. In addition, a conference was to be held once a year in order that Army officers, detailed as students, might become familiar with the purposes, methods and organizations of the system of Army correspondence courses. i, ‘The War Department also issues a pamphlet of instruction to authors, set- ting forth what it believed to be the best methods for correspondence in- struction as they have been adapted to the special conditions of Army and Reserve training. Criticism Met. “The courses are serving their pur- pose,” declared Lieut. Col. Arthur J. Klein, who had charge of the establish- ment of the correspondence system, course -or studies only the one aspect of the work in which he is interested. Criticism of the correspondence work, on the ground that few officers finish the entire courses, arises from failure to understand this fact. If the correspondence courses; such that all officers would col te an entire course, the content of the courses would have to be so simple and inept that that they would have practically no value in training for active service.” In one-half the Reserve or National Guard officers complete the course in which they have enrolled, the record will compare very favorably with that of the chief civilian universities. Of each 1,000 students who enter American “when an officer takes but a single sub- | P18 THE SUNDAY IN REPOSE AT DOORN. BY WILLIAM L. M'PHERSON. N exceptionally vivid picture of the temper of the ruling classes in Germany when faced with President Wilson's demand that the Hohenzollerns should displaced before an armistice would be accorded is furnished in excerpts from the diary of Count Harry Kessler, re- cently published in the Berliner Tage- tt. Count Kessler was a diplomatic of- ficer attached to the German legation at Berne, a very important center of intrigue during the war. He speaks for the whole upi)er class of officialdom under the empire, and his diary entries disclose that this upper class had be- gun to discuss the Kaiser's abdication several weeks before Prince Max of Baden calmly announced the abdica- tion, without waiting for authorization from the Kaiser personally or from grand headquarters. Dynasties in Jeopardy. This diary throws a light on what was going on behind the scenes in high government circles, after Ludendorfl’s demand for an armistice at any cost colleges and universities, only 717 reach sophomore year, 538 answer present when the roll is called junior year, and only 322 finally receive their sheepskins. Less than half of the students who en- ter American high schools are grad- uated. By comparison, the has reason to be proud of the tenacity of, its puplils. All Branches Represented. The program of instruction lists about 400 subcourses. Not all of these are given each year, but most of them are. Every branch of service has ap- propriate courses. Infantry, field artil- lery, military intelligences, coast artil- lery engineers, air service, chaplains, quartermasters and other arms of the service—all have instruction to offer the Reservist in their special fields. Top- ping all is the commana and general staff course, which is open only to those who have completed the ad- vanced course in their arm, or who held field rank during the World War. This course, which requires for its completion in all 500 hours, aims to fit the Reserve officer for staff duty in time of war. It shows how a division is operated and handled, how a com- mander reaches his decisions, what are the problems in transport, supply, etc., involved in maneuvering large les of troops. Map problems play an im- portant part here, as they do in the advanced course ggnerally. The students move armies, issue bat- tle orders, outline the plans of the commanding officers. If there are still things they have to know before they can actually command troops in the field, they have gone far toward com- g;;::;‘ military education of a stafl Recently the War Department has revised the regulations governing the promotion of Reserve officers. Hence- forth, to keep certificate of eligibility, a zservi ¢;fllcerk uéuséns do a certain ount of work du the five-year period his commission is in force. yHe may fill the requirements in part by active duty training, by correspondence course work and by conferences with military ‘men. The correspondence courses offer the readiest means to fill the requirements. Henceforth, too, & man must com- plete one subcourse a year if he is to keep his enrollment in ‘the correspond- ence school. These requirements will, it is felt, increase the number of en- rollments in the future. The War Department has under consideration also other changes in the correspond- ence school system, to make it even more efficient and an even greater help to the citizen components of the Army, Reading Course Offered. Another interesting move in the same direction is the publication by the Army War College of a reading course for officers. Several hundred volumes are on this list. It is aimed to broaden the interests-and the views of the Army officer, and only a part of the books on the list are military in character. History, biography, politi- cal science and other subjects are also included. Though advisory in charac- ter, the course is recommended to the attention of officers as a means of en- larging their field of information on subjects closely allied to their profes- sional work. Army officers believe the correspond- ence school system 1s in its infancy. Each year, they believe, will see a greater interest and better instruction, and within two years they expect an annual enrollment of 50,000. (Copyright. 1928.) Planes, Conceived as Instrument for War, Now Regarded as Important Peace Factor (Continued From Pirst Page) this standard, will have tremendous effect in promoting peaceful relations. ‘With radio, which also knows no fron- tler, air conquest must be used for the good of mankind and not for its de- struction. President Wilson's dream of a League of Nations is forwarded in a way that probably he did not visualize by science in contributing air trans- portation and radio transmission to the world. The destruction of races may have a dramatic appeal to un- thinking youth, but the sober judgment of more mature minds will bring to the consciousness of all peoples the fearful consequences of perverting new contributions of science to the orgies of national killings called warfare. These new developments of the air courses will do much to change the minds of men from destruction to pro- duction. No doubt they are preliminary to fur- ther discoveries of great constructive value. Aurivision makes it possible for one to see and hear simultaneously, and we have motion pictures utilizing this principle. Perhaps we are close upon the discovery of thought trans- mission as well; if so, the coming in- tercourse of minds will bring the re- alization of the futility of war. The | ideals of race have not kept pace with scientific inventions, but closer every- day intercourse throughout the world v;ll:l make inevitable world-wide friend- ship. In this dawn of a new age, one great American statesman, Woodrow Wilson, has pointed the way to universal peace, and, even though greatly misunder- stood in Germany, there will come a time at no distant period when he will stand out as the friend of all races and | nationalities, and as one who strove un- selfishly to bring about a standard of natioal ideals applicable to all coun- alike—a polar star by which the nations of the future will be guided away from warring destruction. “Peace on earth, good will to men,” the doc- trine first enunciated by the greatest re- ligious Teacher, is the principle of the new diplomatic policy pmmulfnwd by a fe‘t statesman whose spiritual in- sight and prophetic vision gave him an unprecedented glimpse into the future; and for this the present generation must prepare itself scientifically, intel- lectually, morally and physically. The near future will see barrierless nations of the world united by the new dis- coveries of science and welded into united nations through the principles of the new freedom. had put the Hohenzollern dynasty and all other German dynasties in jeopardy. If the war was lost the monarchies had lost it. Why should they stay, espe- cially if the Allies refused to treat with them? The allied demand might have been met half way. It might have been made politically inadvisable by a genu- loyalty. Bui, as these extracts prove, Wil- helm II had lost the confidence of all classes. The memrch{ was bankrupt. Why not let it be liquidated? says Count Kessler in an introductory com- ment: “In the following notes the abandonment of the Kaiser by the Ger- man upper layers appears, because of my official position at the time, in the fore ind among the causes which led to the downfall of the empire. But, apart from that accidental circum- stance, I believe that among the factors in the downfall (Entente pressure, the dissatisfaction of the masses) the chief factor was the recognition by the up- per layer (officials, soldiers, legislators) of the monarch’s complete inadequacy and of their inability to find a sub- stitute for him of royal status.” Reveals German Psychology. ‘The diary reveals significant phases f German psychology toward the close gl the war which were kept hidden for many years after defeat. It is an im- portant contribution to the history of the pre-armistice period. Here are the BY HENRY W. BUNN. HE following is a brief summary of the most important news of the world for the seven days ended December 22. * K ok X GREAT BRITAIN.—To the satisfac- tion of the entire world, King George seems well on the road to recovery. Sir John Murray, head of the famous publishing house and fourth of the John Murrays, recently died at 77. The house was established in 1768 by John Mac- Murray, a retired Scotch lieutenant of marines, who dropped the “Mac.” One of the first books published by the founder was Horace Walpole's “Castle of Otranto.” The second John, who succeeded in 1793, in association with Scott, Canning. Southey and Gifford, brought out the ‘Tory Quarterly Review in opposition to the” Whig Edinburgh Review. He was the publisher of Byron, Crabbe, Jane Austen and Moore. The third John, who reigned from 1843 to 1892, published the works of Lyell, Borrow and Darwin. A noble house. * ik SPAIN—I think we shall have to see the two exhibitions Spain is giving next year, one on the heights overlooking Barcelona, the other a park near charming Seville; the two intended to signalize_the boasted Spanish Renais- sance. My understanding is that the Barcelona exhibit is to be of interna- tional industrial and commercial flavor, the Seville exhibition pan-Hispanic, de- voted chiefly to the arts, and with the United States the only country of non- Hispanic origin to be represented. One should be able from a study of those exhibitions to form a fairly just esti- mate—at present lacking—of the achievements of Primo de Rivera's dic- tatorship. Meantime, the Instituto de las Espanas of Nice is doing delightful and valuable work toward extending the cultural contracts between the United States and Hispanic countries. A commission of technical experts is studying the project of a railway tunnel under the Straits of Gibraltar. It is roughly estimated that the tunnel would be about 33 miles long, including only 81, miles under the strait itself, and that the construction would require about six years. It is proposed that the undertaking be purely Spanish, both as to construction and as to costs. In time, of course, the completed tunnel would be connected with a complete Cape to Cario railway and a French Transsa- haran railway for which surveys are now being made. SESE N AFGHANISTAN.—According to re- ports, the Ameer Amanuilah of Afghan- istan is decidedly “up against it” in his efiorts to Westernize his storied land, including abolition of purdah. We are told that the larger part of his army has turned against his maj- esty and even that he has taken refuge in a fortress with his charming con- sort, only the other day the observed (with entire approval) of all observers in Rome, Paris, London and Berlin. A plausible explanation of the defection of army is that the Amecer has blown in all the available funds by way of enforcing his reforms, leaving the army unpaid. It is, however, very prob- able that these reports are distorted or exaggerative, Amanullah became the ine and widespread demonstration of |4 STAR, WASHINGTO diplomat’s entries—first in Berlin, then at his post in Berne, and again in Berlin: “BERLIN, Sept. 28, 1918. “Breakfast with Battista R.—alone, since her husband is at Grand Head- uarters. She assured me that the chancellorship crisis there is sur- mounted. I said that, properly, the Chancellor (Hertling) ought not to have gone to Grand Headquarters but in such an emergency the Kaiser ought to have come to Berlin. She expressed the opinion: ‘The Kaiser does not trust himself in Berlin; he does not feel safe f | here. Overthrow of Hertling. “BERLIN, Sept. 30. “A critical day in the highest sense. Hertling has been overthrown and with him the whole traditional Prussian system. In the second place, our front in Bulgaria has been broken. The Bul- garian (muce) delegates have already arrived Salonica. It is a turning point for Prussia, Germany and the whole world. Since Jena there has been no such revolution. “BERLIN, Oct. 1. “Ferdinand Stumm (to whom I was saying good-by in the Foreign Office before my to Berne) told me, smiling and talking through his nose, as he always does when he is excited, ruler of Afghanistan in 1919 and in 1921 by the treaty of Kabul, with Great Britain, he secured the complete inde- pendence of his country. * K K X CHINA.—On December 20 a new Sino- British commercial treaty was signed at Nanking; for Great Britain by Sir Miles Lampson, the British Minister to China; for China by Dr. C. T. Wang, Chinese foreign minister. Similar Sino- Portuguese and Sino-Swedish treaties have just been signed, and similar Sino- French and Sino-Dutch treaties are about to be signed. Each of Se. treaties, of course, contains a most- favored nation clause. One hears that the number of di- visions in the Chinese army is to be re- duced from 80 to 30, and that German Instructors are being engaged for the 30. Meantime banditry is increasing, and, doubtless, it will at least tempora- rily be further increased in consequence of the disbandments proposed, should they really be made. Soldiers being dis- charged are not getting arrears of pay nor being provided with jobs, so ban- ditry is the only obvious occupation open to them. * ok ok ok BOLIVIA AND PARAGUAY.—The Paraguayan government promptly ac- cepted the offer (cabled December 14) by the International Conference of American States on Conciliation and Arbitration, of its good offices toward a pacific settlement of the Bolivian-Para- guayan dispute, and on December 18, after a delay which kept a great many people on tenterhooks, the Bolivian gov- ernment also accepted. Meanwhile, the situation had de- veloped dangerously. On December 16 the world at large learned that another clash (reports widely differ as to the number of casualties, but probably the number was not large) had occurred between Bolivian and Paraguayan troops in the area possession of which is mat- ter of dispute between the two states; each side, of course, as in the case of the clash of December 6, accusing the other of being the aggressor. Just be- fore its adjournment on December 15 the League Council had dispatched practically identic notes to the jarring governmenjgy inviting their attention to Article I of the League Council covenant, by which as member states of the League they were engaged to | seek settlement of their dispute by arbitral or judical means or through an inquiry by the Council itself and not to resort to war prior to three months { following an award by such instrumen- ' {ality. and further urging “the taking of proper measures to avoid new incidents capable of compromising the success of {all pacific procedure.” But M. Briand, | tio temporary president of the Council, terribly concerned, had remained at Lugano to keep in touch with the League secretariat. On learning of the renewal of hostilities, he, about mid- night of the 16th, cabled to La Paz and Asuncion, “permitting himself to insist upon the suggestions made by the Council.” (I think it is instructive to follow these transactions in some de- tail.) On the 17th the Bolivian govern- ment ordered the Bolivian command in the disputed area to make no further advance and to avold fighting, and on the 18th the Bolivian government ac- cepted the good offices of the Washing- ton conference. In notifying the presi- dent of the League Council to that effect, it stated that it had so acted “in ' D. C, DECEMBER KAISER iT FRONT WITH VON HINDENBURG BEFORE HIS FLIGHT ‘TO HOLLAND. INSET: COUNT KESSLER. that I should prepare Romberg (Ger- man Minister in Berne) for the fact that we must soon seek a bad peace. I asked him whether he meant what he sald—whether I should repeat it to Romberg as a fact. He answered em- phatically yes, that I should tell it to Romberg in all seriousness. “I went to Langwerth (chief of the political division of the Foreign Office) for further information, and asked him whether he had any message for Rom- berg. He became very mysterious. Not today, he said, but, if I would wait, perhaps tomorrow. Much disturbed, I went to the Chancellor’s offices, where, in the absence of Radowitz, who was at Grand Headquarters, Fredi Prittwitz talked to me. He was of the same opinion as Stumm, only he expressed himself more guardedly, that peace was perhaps very near. Lost Their Nerve. “The military men had lost their nerve; Ludendorff, as he had already committed many other political blun- ders, would now probably push us into an overhasty peace. At present it was the civillans who had to strengthen the nerves of the military men. What a topsy: world! If we could hold out for four or six weeks longer that would be of immeasurable political value. accord with the League suggestions from the League Council” A mere courteous form of words, or of what decper significance one pleases. It is possible to exaggerate the im- portance of the border clashes, but it seems extremely probable that war would have resulted but for the benign activity of the sundry “instrumental- ities” of peace—the League Council, the Washington Conference, the friend- ly offers or approaches of the Argentine government, the King of Spain, the Vatican, etc. Those who have been moving actively in the interest of world peace seem to have occasion of complacency in the developments. It may “be claimed plausibly that the League - Council’s proceeding, though hav] at first bl a certain look of timidity, was, rather, wisely discreet; and that our Government showed a like wisdom in not obtruding its be- nevolence at the risk of giving offense to Latin America in general. It may further be urged that, though the Kellogg pact was scarcely mentioned, its unvoiced influence was tremendous, was, belike, determining. At any rate, whatever the relative importance of the several influences making for peace, a combination of such influences has proved of immense potency: and the world should be greatly heartened in consequence. It is possible that the controversy will get itself finally set- tled only by war, but war is very im- probable. * X ok ' UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.— On December 18, after a two-day visit in Montevideo, capital of. Uruguay, President-elect Hoover boarded the bat- tleship Utah and sailed for Rio de Ja- neiro, where he arrived tn the 21st. To- morrow he boards the Utah again and will make straight for Key West or Miami, omitting the visit to Cuba, Santo Domingo and Mexico originally pro- posed. The Senate amendments to the Swing-Johnson so-called Boulder Can- yon bill having been accepted by the House, the bill so amended went to the President, who on December 21 signed it. “Boulder Canyon” is a mis- nomer for the act, as, in agreement with a_ recommendation of the commission which rejnvestigated the project during the past Summer, Black Canyon was substituted for Boulder Canyon as the site of the proj dam. Of tremendous importance in the de- velorunt of the aviation industry will be the incorporation, soon to be con- summated under the auspices of the National City Co. and the Pacific Na- nal Bank of Seattle, of three leading companies manufacturing airplanes or al , involving securities of a total estimated market value above $150,000,000. The three concerns are the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Corpora- tion of Hartford, manufacturing Wasp and Hornet air-cooled airplane motors; the Chance Vought Corporation, manu- facturing the Corsair obversation planes; and the Boeing Alrplane & Transpor- tation Corporation of Seattle, so impor- tant in airplane manufacture and com- merelal air transportation. The name of the new corporation will be the United Aircraft and Transport. ‘The famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York is to come down, to give place {o a 50-story office building. Representations in the present House 23, 1928—PART 2. Kaiser’s Fall Told in Diary Diplomat’s Book Describes in Detail Wilhelm’s Desertion by Upper Classes of Germany KAITSER AS HE IS TODAY IN EXILE. “He shared my view that the Kaiser belonged in Berlin. But the court, he said, was thinking only of saving its rights. That morning Prince Joachim, the imperial penguin, had come to call on him and had seen in the crisis nothing except that the crown was los- ing one right after another. The same night I returned to Berne with my crushing message. High Officials Worried. “BERNE, Oct. 4. “A frightful evening with Romberg. He told me confidentially, before the open fire in his study, that our govern- ment had officially besought President Wilson to take the lead in arrange- ments for peace on the basis of the President’s Fourteen Points. In other words, we have capitulated without grepnmnon, without inquiry into acts, suddenly an en bloc. Romberg was annihilated, so to speak. For two days he had not had any sleep. ‘But we are all sinners,’ he said. “His only hope was a later unifica- tion of Europe. Perhaps the removal of all boundary lines, the ideal of free intercourse among the peoples, would have attractions. Yet the feeling be- tween Romberg and myself was that which accompanies a great catastrophe. We sat for long intervals in silence, and pursued our own gloomy thoughts be- fore the fire. I came near fainting. The blood roared in my heart and ears. “Romberg said as we Earted ‘You are lucky; you have no children.’ When, coming from his house about 1 o'clock at night, I crossed the bridge. I felt like dropping myself into the Aare. Perhaps I was so dead inside that I could not decide to do it. Blackest Day of War. , Oct. 5. “The blackest day of the World War, Germany's, Austria's and Turkey's pleas for an armistice were posted this afternoon on the bulletin boards in the form of a telegram from the Vienna News Bureau. Under the Zytgloggen tower the crowd stood in amazement, as so often earlier before the reports of German victories. “BERNE, Oct. 6. “The feeling here oscillates between gravity and nervous cheerfulness. The Austrians danced till 3 o'clock last ht in’ Ouchy, in Savoy. The Greek cess, who saw them, was revolted. “BERNE, Oct. 9. “The impression of disaster is strengthening. At breakfast Rechberg asked me what I thought would be the (Continued on Fifth Page.) P The Story the Week Has Told of Representatives is based on a popu- lation of 91,641,200, as shown by the census of 1910. Thus 13,630,000 are deprived of the representation contem- plated by the Constitution. A report of the committee on the Fenn bill for reapportionment now before the House states regarding the failure of previous easures proposing reapportionment: ‘'The debates in Congress show that the real stumbling block was the fact that unless the size of the House were increased far beyond its then member- ship, many States would have lost one or more Representatives (by reappor- tionment).” Trustworthy authorities assert that organizations championing strict en- forcement of the eighteenth amend- ment and the Volstead act have used their influence against reapportion- ment, because it would increase repre- sentation of the big cities, which are wet. Whatever the explanation, reappor- tionment has been delayed for eight years; no such flouting of or indiffer- ence to the requirements of the Con- stitution was ever seen. * ok ok ok AMUNDSEN.—On December 14 the seventeenth anniversary of the discov- ery of the South Pole by Capt. Roald Amundsen was celebrated at sundry places throughout the world. The chief ceremony, that at Oslo, capital of Nor- way, was attended by the King, the Crown Prince, the members of the gov- ernment and the diplomatic corps, a large part of the Storthing and a special Italian mission sent for the occasion. The celebration at San Francisco was especially colorful, as it was held at the edge of Golden Gate Park, beside the little vessel Gjoa, in which Amundsen made his justly famous navigation of the Northwest in 1906. The deck of the ship was heaped with flow- ers. One wonders if Amundsen was not has known. * ok ok NOTES.—Quick work by the redoubt- able Sir Hubert Wilkins—he has flown over Graham Land and has determined that it is an island, not a peninsula. A French submersible cruiser just FIXING EARTH’S WEIGHT PUZZLE FOR SCIENTISTS Exact Knowledge Many Laboratory Tests for Last Century—Core BY DR. PAUL R. HEYL, Bureau of Standards. Have you ever wondered, when you have seen men excavating the cellar of a bullding and taking away the earth a ton at a time, how many tons there might be in the*whole earth? Scientific men are the greatest wonderers to be found anywhere, and they have not only asked themselves this question (there was no one else to ask), but they have devised experiments to give the answer. It is, of course, a very large figure; about six thousand million million mil- lion tons—six followed by 21 ciphers. The number is really known a little more accurately than that. The first three figures are known, if any one should need them, and experiments are now in Erogrm at the Bureau of Standards which, if all goes well, will give the fourth figure. But why should any one need to know this number at all? Of what possible use can it be to anybody? u‘l‘h/ere are two answers to this ques- lon. Interest to Astronomers. In the first place, a knowledge of the mass of the earth is of interest to as- tronomers, for it is a starting point from which are obtained the masses of 50! the moon and of the sun and of the other planets of the solar system. Our earth, therefore, is a natural standard of reference with which other quanti- ties are compared, and it is the busi- ness of the Bureau of Standards to de- termine such fundamental reference quantities as accurately as possible. In the second place, a knowledge of the earth’s mass enables us to learn something about the interior of the earth, that n about which so much imaginative literature has been writ- ten and which no one can ever hope to investigate directly. From the earth’s mass we can calculate its density, that is, the number of times it is heavier than an equal globe of water; and this leads us to a rather remarkable con- clusion. various rock materials which make up the outer layer of the earth, the | which are accessible to test and meas- ure, turn out to have an average density between two and three times that of water, while, curiously enough, the figure for the earth as a whole comes out about twice this value. The inference is_obvious—the core of the earth must be composed of something much heavier than the outer crust. ‘What can it be? Core a Ball of Iron. For this question, too, it is possible to find an answer. Several lines of ar- gument, including the speed of travel of earthquake waves, the phenomena of terrestrial magnetism and some oth- ers, have led those who have given most attention to the subject to the strange conclusion that the core of the earth is a great ball of iron! Occasionally there fall to earth bodies called meteorites, which are by often composed of metallic iron, some- ‘These times with a stony admixture. strange bodies seem to be floating about in space, and occasionally one of them comes near enough to the earth to be drawn in by its attraction. The idea is that the earth is like a great me- teorite, or the result of the accretion the prince of all the heroes the world | balls or massing together of many such par- Doriions, have fone. 1o, the eenier by ve gone T by virtue of their own it or attraction for each other, while portions formed the surface ‘The be rener:e&h‘ - {-::nlp:’len mrm’ e as or un- used of material. So mmeom out of an dry_and abstuse determinat; nunierical constant of nature. How is the earth weighed? Like other scientific measurements, thllanefl' tion is carried out by a round- about process. ‘The first thing to do is to set up a mintature system representing the earth and a body near its surface, and deter- mine by ent the actual force of attraction between these bodies. This force depends on several things. In the first place, on the masses of the bodies, greater bodies attracting each other with more force than smaller ones; and second, on the distance between their centers, bodles attracting more strongly the closer they are together. All these quantities are measured in the minia- ture system; the masses of the two bod- ies, their distance from each other and the force of attraction between them. Calculate Mass of Earth. In the actual case of the earth and a body on its surface, we can measure all but one of the quantities involved. We can welgng'.he small body and thus determine force with which the earth attracts it. We can determine by the same operation the mass of the small body, and we know the distance from its center to the center of the earth. What we do not know is the mass of the earth. But by applying the re- sults of our miniature experiment in w}lflch ""ryob solving a pi 'm in proportion, we can calculate the mass of the earth. ‘The most difficult part of this experi- ment is to determine the force of at- traction between the miniature earth and the small body attracted by it. Even with a mass of steel weighing 140 pounds (which Is used in the arrange- ment employed in the experiment now in progress at the Bureau of Stand- ards) and a ball of gold weighing an ounce and a half, the force is able only in millionths of a grain, in metric units about a thousandth of a milligram. To determine this very small force with the necessary geel.sum. an ar- rangement called a torsion pendulum is used. A light rod of aluminum about 8 inches long is hung by a very fine filament of tungsten at its center.” This filament is such as is used in incan- descent lamps. The rod hangs in a horizontal position and carries at each end a gold ball. The rod swings very slowly back and forth in a small arc, with a time of swing of about half an hour. So delicate is this arrangement that a very small force applied to the will perceptibly alter its time of tly of a Experiment in a Case. The swinging system is inclosed In! an airtight case from which the air is exhausted. This eliminates trouble from air currents which might disturb the swings and also allows the system launched is the greatest submersible the world has seen. Her tonnage is said to jexceed that of the American V-boat type by 360, that of the British XI type by 725. She is designed to make 23 knots on the surface, and a large fuel capacity gives her a great radius of jaction. Her length is 400 feet. The liv- ing quarters are saild to be tolerably commodious. It is the present understanding that the Pre) tion will be convened again about Mid-April next and the Commis- sion for the Control of Manufacture of Arms early in March next. Both are League commissions, whose peculiar recent troubles I have glanced at from time to e. It is felt that the auspices for both com: are brightenin 8. In the course of the conversations be- tween Sir Austen Chamberlain, Aristide Briand and Gustav Stresemann, the K'?rrelrn m‘l.l i of Great Bl;lhlni ance an rmany, respectively, af Lugano, Switzerland, during the week ended December 15, the spirit of Locarno was restored to full vigor. That good spirit will henceforth alternatively be known as the spirit of Lugano, k) to swing for a time before comin; to rest. A k7 = Outside this case the two large steel placed, at m-c as close as greater t— From | Ulster Claims S0 delicate is a well arranged torsion 10‘ mum ‘within lgh;ttol resence of a [ee rt'fllllwr its time of swing for the gold balls, or if a car is driven the laboratory and parked the torsion pendulum will indicate its attraction. To avold disturbances of this nature the aj atus is set up in a room 35 feet un d, where all moving masses are overhead, and have no Ta‘::cz on the lum. is not mnggn“tl time the earth guantity was known, and to orthern the all the rest of because | b of the attraction of the person’s body | 000,000. Unknown, Despite ‘Believed Iron. has been weighed. By the use of appa- ratus similar to that which has just - been deseribed this experiment has been conducted several times in the last . century, with results of increasing pre. cision .as the technique of laboratory practice has gradually been perfected. No work of this kind has been done for . a generation, and it has been thought that sufficient progress has been made in that time to warrant the attempt to obtain another re of the weight of, the earth. e . ‘g Human Interest Element. About 30 years ago a piece of work of this kind was performed which has =3 about it so much of human interest § that it may be told here profitably. As has often happened, two men worked on this experiment at the same time without knowing of each others doings. One of them was a British v sclentist, Prof. Boys, who worked with the best facilities that London and = Oxford University could furnish him. <% He spent several years at the task and = obtained what was believed to be the :nost accurate figure obtained up to that e While he was doing this another man, of whom Prof. Boys had never ™ heard, was working at the same prob- ** lem several hundreds of miles away in * hemia. This was Dr. Karl Braun, .- who had been a Jesuit teacher of physics all his life. At an advanced ™ age he retired from teaching and was* sent to a monastery in the mountains .« of Bohemia to end his days peacefully and quietly. But Dr. Braun could not content himself in inactivity, and for * something to do he set up an apparatus in his cell in the monastery and deter- . mined the weight of the earth. His result, when published, was almost ex- actly that obtained by Prof. Boys. Much of Dr. Braun's apparatus was ‘7 made by himself. It is noteworthy that he was the first person to use a vacuum vacuum to be impracticable. Prof. Boys could hardly credit Dr. Braun’s achievement, and d long trip to Bohemia to mn.fi-f. 'i‘i:"' found Dr. Braun, at that time over 80 * hter stony | OF how small, Night after night he , that it was destined to strike fi:‘:flcehd = He calculated that this would happen within a few years. Night after night . he watched this aj 'hing doom, fas- . cinated by it. He did not announce his - discovery, fearing to witness the orgy of lawlessness and despair into which it mt(g):t mhm ‘world. = e e spoke aloud and ad- . dressed the star as follows: e T know that you will ‘soon me and- all (Copyright, 1928.) - Hungarians Resent Shaw’s Criticism ment, the Hungarians prom; Shaw's repl’esentnl'g lnp"’ of e o - ter but also pest the .bg:edw smlve. Shaw as- serted, ac g: “Iam myself an Irish- man, but I live in nmma..n! am no lawyer for the Trianon treaty, but * ‘lflvg:uld like to th::" g the attention ungarians a Hungarian freed. from President . transferred to ment of his national irations sensible loss in persorfal .Imnedom. N: {orelcn"(nvemm_‘enl can be as tyran- one’ nical Giced beea use as a Socialist he posed to conservative Hungary. | ! op- {Pope Inspects Work On St. Peter’s Tower - Pope Pius XI. climbed into the fa- . 8y |0 . Alarmed lest the many crevices, centuries old, - | éxisting in the pillars of the ci ‘endm its security, his holiness invited a noted expert, Senator Luca Beltrami, to examine the crevices. The - latter’s report confirmed those of other ., e that solutely safe for posterity. But the wants the s to ha tic lines and crevices are heing filled b the - 2 Sobriety Leadership of Britain: N Ireland claims that it leads ~ British nu;xud its uul:rl:-k . ann ~ from $37,000,000 in 1923 to $20,- ,000.. This means a consumption of® $16 per’ head as against $3¢ In Great - Britain and $26 in the Saorstat. Still, it was stated by the temperance com- mittee of the Protestant Synod of Down, Connor and Dromore, there are 3,000 drink shops in the northern area, all 50" Rorthern (emperanee. eformers b * perance reformers in- tend to keep up their organization. briety. It has il