Evening Star Newspaper, January 8, 1929, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY......January 8, 1929 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor| The Evening Star Newspaper Company | Business Office: 1:th St. and New' York Office: 110 Fast +2nd St. Chicago Office: Tower Bullding. European Office; 14 Regent St.. London, England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. The Evening Star..... .45¢ per month | The Evening and Sunday Star | (when 4 Sundars) 60c per month | The Evenine and Sund; (when 5 Sundays) 65¢ per month | The Sunday Star . Sc per ccpy | Collection made at'ihe end of cach month. | Orders may be sent in by mail cr telephone Matn 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Nally and Sunday....1 vr., $1000; 1 mo., 85c Daily only 1 5t $6.00: 1 mo.. S0c Sunday only 1 yr., $400; 1 mo.. 40c ¥ Sta All Other States and Canada. N 1 1., $12.00: 1 mo., $1.00 ally nnd Sunda: yr. $1200: 1 mo. $1.00 Daily only .. ki Sunday only yT. $500: 3 mo. 50c Member of the Associated Press. The Ascoclated Press fs exclusively (ntitled to the use for republication of all rews dis- patches credited to it or not ethorwise cred- fted in this paper and also the local rews nubliched herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. An Epochal Flight. Once again an American airplane— American built and American manned— wings its way to immortality. The Army endurance-flight monoplane, Question Mark, breaking all recort landed at Los Angeles airport yesterda: afternoon at the end of a non-stop cruise aloft lasting 150 hours, 40 min- utes and 15 seconds. For well-nigh seven days and nights the intrepid craft soared serencly | through the California heavens, a gal- lant crew aboard her, succored from | time to time by mates no less skillfuliy heroic, who fueled her in midair while | endurance plane and nursing ship alike | tore through space at a dizzy speed of | more than a mile a minute. Question Mark and her flying filling station take their places in aviation history along- side the Spirit of St. Louis and the | ships which carried Chamberlin, Byrd and Maitland to glory across the seas. ‘The Army sent Question Mark to the skies on a tour of experimental duty. It was the assigned task of Maj. Spatz and his four shipmates to stick to their aerial job as long as human endurance plus motor reliability permitted. The mere numerical tabulation of the joint achievement is a romance. During the 150-0odd hours the monoplane was en- circling the ethereal terrain above the airport she covered an approximate dis- tance of 11,500 miles, consumed 5,205 gallons of gasoline, made 36 contacts with the refueling plane, received 42,000 pounds of supplies and gasoline, aver- aged 70 miles an hour, attained a maxi- ‘mum speed of 121 miles an hour, main- tained an average altitude of 3,800 fect and a maximum of 6,600 feet and the three Wright “whirlwind” motors re- corded the fabulous total of 42,552,000 revolutions. Rear Admiral Moffett, chief of the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics, paying generous tribute to the epoch-marking accomplishment of the sister service, rightly envisions wondrous things as the result of Question Mark’s flight. A heavier-than-air machine which, prop- erly husbanded by flying fueling equip- ment, can sail continuously for the bet- ter part of seven days and nights should have no difficulty in girdling the globe. Such a flight, Admiral Moffett points out, “is now brought well within the realms of possibility.” The resuitant effect upon naval war- fare is obvious. During 2 prolonged en- gagement at sea, the admiral explains, it is now plain that fighting planes can be retained in flight over battle areas, with special cargo planes serv- ing them with fresh fuel and ammuni- tion. *In the field of civilian aviation Question Mark opens up no less sug- gestive a vista. In all directions the new avenues of aviation development, on both sea and land, become illimitable in their possibilities. But these are matters of the futm'e.Y What counts at the moment is the deep | pride that fills America in the posses-| sion of men, motors and machinery capable of Question Mark’s achieve- | ment. To the Army air force, to the monoplane’s builders, to her magnifi- cent crew, the country signals grateful congratulations. r——— A very simple inauguration becomes hard to manage in view of the loyal desire of s0 many who voted for Hoover to bring along the home-town band and get into line. | — Maryland, famous for expert road- builders, finds its admirable highways demanding the supervision of expert ac- countants as well as engineers. e The Democratic Future. Representative Box of Texas, newly elected Democratic whip of the House, insists that the future success of the Democratic party depends upon ridding the organization of those forces which nominated Gov. Smith and controlled his campaign. This is plain talk from a man chosen by his Democratic col- leagues in the House to an important position. It is not difficult to believe that it will fall harshly on the cars of Democrats in New York, Massachusetts and other Eastern and New England States. Here is no note of harmony. Mr. Box proposes a major operation. ‘The opinion given by the new minority whip of the House, who succeeds the late Representative William A. Oldfieldof Arkansas, may have come as something of a shock to Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt, to whom Mr. Box wrote his views in reply to a letter from the New York governor congratulating him upon his clection. But there is not the slightest doubt that many of the Southern Demo- crats feel as does Mr. Box. Texas was one of the States of the “Solid South” which flopped over to the Republican column in the recent election. Mr. Box is worried by the idea that Texas may continue to vote Republican, unless the Democratic party takes a different posi- tion from that which was taken by its presidential candidate in the recent campaign. “If the situation and forces which nominated Gov. Smith and controlled the campalgn continue to dominate the party,” wrole Mr. Box, “Texas and the South will cease to be Democratic, the East will not be controlled, the West Will he.permanently estranged, and the ™ | Millions of popular votes were cast for party will break up, some of its voters going to the Republican party, others remaining with the organization, and others becoming independent.” This is a gloomy picture, indeed, which is laid before the New York governor by Mr. Box. Nor does it seem possible that the great Democratic party which has weathered many storms in the past will succumb now. But there is no doubt there is need for wise counsel in the party at present. Mr. Box represents one extreme in his party. Gov. Smith in other sections of the country, although he won few electoral votes. It is not likely that these ardent supporters of Gov. Smith will allow themselves to be waved aside cavalierly. Mr. Box makes an interesting sugges- tion in his letter when he proposes that the enforcement of prohibition be made a real political issue. He demands that there shall be constructive handling of such “live” political issues as prohibi- tion, immigration and the tariff, and that the party do something more than merely criticize the opposition. He asserts that while prohibition sentiment prevails, there are more than 100,000 saloons and several hundred thousand bootleggers in the United States today, without a real effort being made by those in power to clean them out. The Republican party is likely to find itself in real difficulties four years from now unless something constructive is done about prohibition and its enforce- ment. The country is not likely to permit the present situation to continue indefinitely. Mr. Box may have placed his finger on a real issue that will come to the top in future campaigns. ——— Reservation by Committee Report. | The proposal that the Kellogg treaty be “permitted” to get to a vote in the Senate with the understanding that the irreconcilables Reed of Missouri and Moses of New Hampshire shall have their views set forth in a report from the foreign relations committee, to ac- company the treaty, may be expedient, but, if so, it has nothing more than expediency to commend it. The Kellogg treaty renouncing war speaks for itself. It commits the United States and the other signatory powers to just one thing—the settlement of international ~disputes by peaceful means. There is no agreement not to go to war in self-defense, no under- standing that the Monroe Doctrine shall be forgotten, no plan under which the United States must sanction any action which may be taken by the League of Nations against any other nation. But the hair-splitters have been at work. Senator Reed of Missouri looks darkly upon the treaty. He suspects that something sinister lies behind it. Senator Moses, another critic of the THE EVENING TAR, . WASHINGTON, D. C, TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1929. and more. Whether ranging the plains with cattle, rounding up lawbreakers as a deputy sheriff, grubbing for gold in Alaska, selling booze in mining camp dives, running games of chance in frontier towns or directing the activ- ities of the corporation that built the $6,000,000 Madison Square Garden in INew York that will stand as a monu- ment to his memory, he was a square shooter—and to that may be attributed the fact that he passed on possessed not only of town and country houses, a palatial yacht and other evidences of a fortune running into seven figures, but with the admiration of persons in widely divergent walks of life. Rickard's strongest claim to enduring fame, however, is that he was a pioneer in the advancement of the ring game to a plane where it deserves the appella- tion of boxing industry rather than prize-fighting business. Entering the | promotional end of the so-called “manly |art of sclf-defense” when it was an outlaw among sports in a great majority of the States, harried by constables and sheriffs, with barrooms usually the scene spectators restricted for the most part to the beetle-browed and red-necked unwashed, he lived to see boxing attain the status of welcomed, not merely condoned, big business. It was Rickard who first startled the sports world with the then unheard-of purse of $30,000 which he hung up for his initial venture in fistic promotion, the scrap between Nelson and Gans at Goldfield, Nev. Subsequently he staged battles of increasing financial magnitude until at the finish he had a record of attracting nine million dollars in gate receipts on heavyweight championships alone within the last eight years, And by his example in aiding the socially prominent Miss Anne Morgan, sister of J. P. Morgan, to conduct a fistic exhibi- tion for a war charity in which she was interested he paved the way for attend- ance at boxing bouts of persons who up to that time would have been startled by such a suggestion. A true disciple of P. T. Barnum, who earned the reputation of being the greatest showman on earth, Rickard's ability correctly to gauge the pulse of the public and his genius for obtaining publicity enabled the pupil ultimately to surpass the master and with his death the world has lost the most successful exponent of what is known in sports circles as the art of ballyhoo, For glamour, color and thrills a parallel to the life of Tex Rickard can be found only in fiction. He was unique. B ‘The good-will service performed by President-elect Hoover in Latin America | is memorable. He will next have bril- liant opportunity to exercise good-will influence among opposing factions in treaty, has much the same kind of suspicion. The President of the United States, the Secretary of State and Sen- ator Borah, chairman of the foreign relations committee, have all taken the position that the treaty commits this country to no understanding other than that in the plain language of the treaty itself. Secretary Kellogg has been at pains to say this many times, and it is understood abroad. But 1t now appears that Senator Reed and Senator Moses must have their say or the treaty is to be delayed perhaps indefinitely. With the Senate overwhelmingly in favor of the treaty, without reservation or ex- planatory resolution, it does appear that the irreconcilables are “saving their faces” at the expense of the judgment of the President, the Secretary of State and the chairman of the foreign rela- tions committee. ‘There is not the slightest doubt that the treaty will be brought to a vote and that it will be ratified just as it stands and with no explanatory reso- lution to accompany it. The agreement now proposed for a report of the foreign relations committee in explanation of the understanding of the United States, as interpreted by Senators Reed and Moses, is so far merely tentative. It scarcely seems possible that Senator Borah and the proponents of the treaty will permit themselves to be forced into the position desired by Senators Reed and Moses. It is true there is a short session of Congress, with much to be done, and that the cruiser bill is await- ing its turn in the Senate, with a fili- buster threatened against it. But it is also true that Senator Moses and Sen- ator Reed are supporters of the epuiser bill and naturally anxious on that ac- count to get the treaty finally disposed of in the Senate. The United States took the lead in the negotiation of the Kellogg treaty re- nouncing war. The position of the ad- ministration is that the United States should not now be put in the position of offering the treaty with one hand and seeking at the same time to rouse the opinion in other minds that the treaty is not what it seems—a simple declaration renouncing war and prom- ising to use peaceful methods in set- tling international disputes. e Sorrow because of the death of Grand Duke Nicholas is widely expressed in Russia. Fear of the Romanoffs has de- parted, but affection for them still re- mains. A human sense of loyalty, once established, cannot be wholly destroyed. ———————— “Tex” Rickard. Cowpuncher, town marshal, wood- chopper, gold miner, saloon owner, dance-hall proprietor, prize-fight im- presario— These are a few of the callings followed by George L. Rickard, whose death from an appendicitis operation stunned not only the world of sports in which he was an outstand- ing figure, but elicited expressions of genuine regret from persons high in social, financial and industrial circles whose esteem and respect he had earned. To many “Tex,” as he was universally known wherever boxing prevails, was merely an opportunist, who piled up a | fortune because he happened to “come along” at the right time. ‘To others he was a “hard-boiled” driver of bargains or, paradoxically, an “easy mark” for a “touch.” He was a day dreamer, yet practical; he thought in generalities, but conducted his affairs on a highly systematized basis, ‘To many others this native Missourian, Congress. ‘o It is feared that Booth Tarkington will suffer loss of sight. Every reader of books and attendant at the theater will hope that a calamity affecting so many millions of persons may be averted. ————— So many questions of immediate sig- nificance assert themselves that the necessity of discussing the Monroe Doc- trine all over again appears to make a serious demand on valuable time. o The world admires clean sport. Tribute is paid to Tex Rickard as one who saw to it that any game which came under his supervision was played according to the rules. R Senators Borah and Reed are not afraid of each other. They listen re- spectfully and neither could ask a bet- ter audience than his antagonist. — e Every new airplane test brings a new and remarkable story. The sky ship has the true fascination of infinite va- riety. o SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Course of Wisdom. A wise philosopher retired Into a lonely cell. His thought was very much admired ‘Wherever mortals dwell. But, oh, 'tis sad to say that when He came to pay his rent, And studied his affairs again— He didn't have a cent! Next day he found a motley suit All trimmed with tinkling bells. His phrase, once rated as astute, 'Mid smiling affluence dwells. And soon these sapient words he spoke Unto the listening town: “While a philosopher goes broke, It pays t6 be a clown.” Trate Artificiality. “You sounded as if you were speaking in anger,” said the friend. “An orator often has to sound that way,” answered Senator Sorghum. “There are many persons who, if you appear to be keeping your temper, can't believe you are thoroughly in earnest.” Jud Tunkins says he knows several politiclans who are liable to need relief more than the farmers. Features of Festivity. The Fourth of March may bring about Some blizzard long delayed. We'll get the old snow shovels out To start a big parade. As Nature Takes Its Course. “Children are very destructive.” “Which is rather fortunate,” said the nervous lady. “By this time all the drums and other noise-making devices are broken and cleared away.” Avolding Tll-Nature. “Why do you cultivate sarcasm?"” “If you try to correct a fault,” said Miss Cayenne, “you should try to be as gentle as possible, It is better to be sarcastic than brutal.” “I have concentrated so much on try- ing to say wise things,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “that I often be- came absent-minded and did foolish things.” Friendly Game. The gunmen in a poker room Set pistols flashing in the gloom. There was some killing. Just the same, who spent his boyhood in Texas and who because of his father's death was thrown out in the world to shift for himself at an carly age, was merely a gambler, Tex Rickard was all of these things— It was a friendly poker game. “Talk ain’t de bes' way to git atten- tion foh good advice,” said Uncle Eben. “When de traffic officer blows a whistle every;b:dy stops an’ listens.” of preliminary negotiations and with] Berience that it is not a comfortable | follows that BY CHARLES Not finishing a book, once it has been begun, is held to be a bad habit by some who seem to regard reading as a sort of manual exercise. “Always finish what you have begun,” they say. If they were speaking of logs which needed splitting, or a hundred- yard dash, their admonition would be excellent. Reading, however, it seems necessary to point cut. is a mental diversion which makes no particular demand upon the muscular ability of man. A reader may be a good reader with- out so much as stirring out of his bed. reading. Recall the picture of the great Lin- coln, stretched out at his ease in front of the log-cabin fireplace, plowing through his Bible by the aid of one dim candle. If you have ever tried the prone posi- tion, elbows on floor, hands catching the jaws at either side, as the young Lincoln is pictured, you know from ex- position. It must be remembered that Abraham Lincoln was the product of another and less luxurious generation, and that his great physical strength made positions which might seem awkward to many of today the acme of comfort for him, * Kk Reading being in essence mental, not physical—intellectual, not muscular—it the wise maxims which apply to muscularity and its deeds may have no particular application to in- tellectual feats. To be in a foot race and refuse to finish puts the half-hearted athlete in line for the gibes of his mates and the booing of the assembled popuiace. ‘When it comes to a book, however, nobody knows whether you finish it or not, and, what is perhaps more to the point, no one cares. In student days, of course, the teacher or professor may have a few words to say if the *re- quired reading” has been slighted. Such conditions, however, are un- usual, and appertain only to the classic halls and the time spent in them. Academic life is, after all, essentially cloistered; the rules of living which pre- vail in it are not exactly those of the outside world. When one reads for himself—the happy condition of affairs which pre- vails after school days are left behind— he mostly reads for pleasure and profit. One would not draw the distinction too closely—what seems pleasure to one is work to another, and vice versa. The main point to keep in mind is that reading in mature life is, whether for profit or entertainment, pure pleas- ure in the main. If it is not, there is no point in reading. Thousands of per- sons do not read. There are homes where no printed matter ever comes, and who shall say that such persons do not live out their appointed lives? There are thousands upon thousands of people who think they read, when the plain fact is that they only look at pictures. Reading is not essential to life, although it may be highly essential to some lives. It is no longer regarded as the sure road to fame and fortune, although often enough it is just that. ] If a book, once begun, does not please the reader, why should he continue with it? There are too many other books, in the first place, and, in the second, there is no point in boring one’s self. Physical relaxation is essential, as a| matter of fact, for the best sort of | THIS AND THAT E. TRACEWELL. One can be bored enough by others! There are a variety of reasons why a reader may wish to cease reading a certain book upon which he began with high hope. He may find the book is not what he thought it was. He may dis- cover, after he has gone a chapter or that it involves some of his pet dis- likes. It may offend him by using the | present tense, when his personal, pri- | vate opinion is that all books should be_written with the past verb tenses It may be a good book, but not suited to his mood of the moment. Circum- stances may compel the laying aside of it, but when the time rolls around, the reader finds he has lost his urge. Then he should wait until it comes back to him again. He should not force it. A book is a | delicate thing, not a brick to be slap- | ped into place with a liberal dose of | | mortar. 1t is a product of the mind, | and works on other minds. To force | one’s self to wade through a book, | | whether or o, is to run the risk of | losing something. | In regard to this latter phase of the | matter, one would not be too intent on | making a point. It is undoubtedly true | that a reader may force himself to_go on with his reading, to discover after a while that he is beginning to like what before was distasteful. Who would ever | like James Fenimore Cooper if he shut | | the book—any of them—after the first 50 pages? One has to persevere, Admitting this, there still remains the | plain fact that every reader must be a | law unto himself as to the exact point ! | where boredom begins and ends in the reading of any particular book. Once | he has’ discovered this, it is strictly up to him to continue or to quit. ey If he discovers his book is not what he thought it was going to be, he should | drop it. Maybe at some other time, but | | not now. Books, like human beings, | | often turn out differently from what one at first thought. Sometimes the | most fascinating is found to be lacking | in those good qualities of decency which | make a real book—or human being. I a book, especfally a novel, incor- | porates some of a reader’s pet dislike: | there is no reason for carrying on w ilh Every one for himself in this mat- ter. With some it is nothing more than | a stock situation which “went over big" in “Martin Rattler” a quarter of a cen- tury ago, but which has lost its power after all these years. Maybe the reader dislikes the use of the present tense. No matter what it is, if the rest of the book has not held his interest, he should lay it aside. Such a disposal is no criticism of the work. Let that be kept fully in mind. The opinion of no one reader can be correct for other readers. What one likes another dislikes, and what the second dislikes the first likes. Above all, if the book is a good book, but somehow does not seem to fit the mood of the moment, it should be ! placed aside to wait a more propitious | occasion. Minds of writers and readers —every reader—cannot always coincide. It is manifestly impossible for every | book to make exactly the same appeal | to every reader, Wherefore it will be | found that many good books, which the reader knows to be good, strike him in the wrong way. This cannot be helped. It is a part of reading, although not often mentioned. This is where the lhome library comes in. If the reader owns the book, he may lay it aside with | & good conscience, knowing that when | his mood changes he will find the book | waiting for him. Far-reaching possibilities are seen by the newspapers in the use of paper made of cornstalks in the publication of daily papers and a farm journal in the Middle West. The experiment is regarded as tremendously important for the corn farmer and also to the forest conservation movement. A belief that “this new industry promises not only to add a vast amount of new wealth to the country and pro- vide new employment for much labor, but also to help in a large measure to solve one of the outstanding problems of agriculture—that of utilizing a farm waste and the largest single item of waste where corn is the principal crop,” is held by the Fort Wayne News- Sentinel, which adds that “it offers the larger promise of giving our American forests a chance to catch up with the demand that is being laid on them.” The News-Sentinel also observes that the Government Printing Office has shown practical interest in the new type ot paper, and sees hope that “the work of the conservationists may be made much easier in the immediate future.” Commenting on_the exhibition of a book on farm products made from this same kind of paper, the Nashville Banner says: “As was pointed out at the time this cornstalk-paper book was pre- sented, the outstanding need of the agricultural interests in this country is to find some method of using for profit the tremendous quantities of material that is and has been going to waste on our farms incidental to the growing of many of our chief crops. * * * Sclence is at work figuring out means whereby these so-called waste products of agri- culture may be made valuable, and it has already accomplished a great deal. That way lie many possibilities of farm relief, incidentally.” e “The first paper,” recalls the Terre Haute Star, “was made from a tall weed not unlike a cornstalk and known as papyrus—hence the name, Perhaps we are merely closing one of those circles which are among the interesting phenomena of history, in now discov- ering a modern papyrus in corn.” ‘While conceding that “it is, of course, too soon to say what cornstalks might be expected to yield to the grower,” the Star continues: “Scientists have been at work for years, experimenting with processes for utilizing cornstalks. They have progressed to the point where that article of waste on the farm scems about to become a very valuable by-product of crop raising. Not only can paper be made from the corn- stalks, but other industries using cel- lulose are expected to become intensive purchasers of a product that has been a nuisance to the tiller of the soil in the corn belt.” Another phase of the matter as re- lated to the corn belt is taken up by the Davenport Democrat, which quotes from a Government report on the sub- ject and makes the statement: “In this report it is recognized that a profitable method for the disposal of cornstalks that would insure their com- plete disintegration obviously would be one of the most effective weapons in fighting the corn borer. Industrial util- ization of cornstalks for the manufac- ture of paper and wallboard is the most. promising outlet thus far suggested. Because of conditions brought about by the corn borer, this outlet for this most wastes is well worth continued inves- tigation.” that “the difficulty heretofore has been to make ‘money in this way,” but con- cludes that “it is obvious that with the decreasing supply of anyraw material and its increasing cost, other raw materials will receive more consideration, and that, as the wood supply decreases and its cost increases, there will come a time when another raw material for paper-making will be practicable.” One of the newspapers involved in the experimental publication, the Danville Commercial News, expresses the belief that the new method will be of special concern to “the farmers of the great corn belt of the Central West, whose annual crop of cornstalks, running into millions of tons, has heretofore rotted Cornstalk Paper Ma); Prove Boon to Farmer and Forests troublesome and cumbersome of farm | The Democrat recognizes | uses it for fuel, as was the case a few years ago,” remarks the Salt Lake| Deseret News, “he need not even then | despair of his crop and decide to quit raising it. He may still, if he will, burn the grain on the cob, yet at the same time make his farm pay by selling the stalks to the paper mill or other factory.” The Port Arthur News directs attention to a bill introduced by Senator Schall of Minnesota, authorizing an appropriation “for demonstrating plants in the utilization of waste products from the land,” and suggests provision for cotton growers as well as those inter- ested in corn. “There are millions of tons of cotton stalks that go to waste under Southern skies. What provision has Senator Schall made for a_demon- strating plant in a Commonwealth where the fleecy staple grows?” asks the News. “The newspaper world for some years,” according to the Columbus Ohio State Journal, “has been somewhat apprehensive of the time when the supply of wood pulp from which news- print is made will be inadequate to the demands upon it. The feat of the Dan- ville paper in successfully publishing a 100-page edition shows that the corn- stalk pulp has practical possibilities. It suggests, too, that in the despised corn- stalk lies another way out for the American farmer.” Virginian Railway’s Engine Rated Best To the Editor of The Star: Appearing in The Evening Star of January 5, was a picture of what was| reputed to be “the biggest and most powerful” steam locomotive ever built. The locomotive pictured is the largest in the world, but it is not the most powerful. To the Virginian Railway and not to the Northern Pacific must go the palm for possessing the most | powerful steam locomotive in the world. (Incidentally, this same road, the Vir- ginian, had the largest and most pow- erful electric Jocomotive in the world, but I believe, now, that Henry Ford's Detroit, Toledo and Ironton has won this distinction.) ‘There are at least three steam loco- motives in use on American railroads today that have greater tractive efforts than the new Northern Pacific locomo- tive. Hence, since a locomotive’s trac- tive effort is the measure of its power, ‘we must conclude that these three loc motives are more powerful than the new Northern Pacific locomotive. A locomotive is classified according to the number of wheels it has. Hence a locomotive with a 2-8-8-2 classification means, counting from the front end, that it has a 2-wheel pilot truck, 8 driving wheels for the first pair of cylinders, 8 driving wheels for the sec- ond pair of cylinders and a 2-wheel trailer truck, usually found under the cab. Most of the above information is taken from the article on the new Northern Pacific locomotive appearing in the Railway Age for the week of December 29, 1928. WALTER F. WALTON. - She’s to Be Congratulated. From the Sloux City Tribune. Passing of another leap year means nothing to_a maiden lady Who credits her single-blessedness to extra shrewd- ness. | > Well, Who Are They? | From the Lynchbure News. Some persons pose as authorities on the next cabinet who couldn’t name all present cabinet members for a Durant prize. e That's a Long Time. From the El Paso Herald. To be considered well constructed, the new house should stand up at least as long as the initial mortgage. S We Neither Are Nor Have. in the flelds.” * K K K “If ever the time should come again when corn 1s so cheap that the farmer b . From the Lincoln State Journal. With 30,000 millionaires in the coun- try, they are as common as fur co - A o = oy the book; one expects to come back to | NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM LG M. lTHE NEW MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA. Herbert Adams Gibbons, The Cen- tury Co. Taken together body and soul, the Pan-American Union in Washington is more dinary charm. It becomes a deeply significant thing as well, Under such consideration it steps out an embodied reminiscence of true historic content. Again, it is a symbol of international | idealism. Once more, it offers fair prom- |ise of ultimate national and interna- | ttonal fulfillment. Set in midcity, the Pan-American { Union, nevertheless, is possessed of such exclusions as the capital so notably per- mits by way of its many park spaces and the leafy screenage of its innumer- able great trees. Within such setting the beauty of this place—unique and exotic—comes out as a delight to the , as a source of pride to the city fiself. Go down to this spot some night when the moon is riding high, a true magi- clan that outlines upon the white walls i the inner purpose, the spirit of this | | | | lozely creation, In shining picture you will see there that long-gone day when Spain in her glory walked this way, traversed the Western world, leaving age to the future in | racial type, in an enriched languags the inspiration of art, in some turn of the daily way of life, in genius and ini- tiative working out in a new field. An- other picture passes—that of expansion and growth. Latin occupation and set- | tlement in the New Worid, states in the making, neighborhoods of states form- ing everywhere to the south of our own country. Within these the Latin tem- crament, hot and headlong, breeds pa- triot and liberators urging to rebellion azeinst old Spain, leading armies into neighboring states, inciting even to civil war itself in the ardors of the new vision of Mberty. e i Meanwhile, the world itself had grown ; enormously—-ertainly not entirely away from wars, as no great stretch of years vas to prove. well on its way to a settled con- viction that peoples and nations could hope for no appreciable measure of per- manency except for the substitution of construction for destruction. Industry, production, exchange, common interests, betrer understandings and agreements— these must give to war, to the passions and panoply and waste of war, its true place as the chief agent of unciviliza- | tion, * ¥ K X Rereft of the moon’s witchery, the Pan-American Union by sunlight is plainly a place of great activity, a place of everyday business. Practical plans hold possession there, ingenious meas- ures animate it, a definite purpose dom- inates it. And no wonder. Its stupen- | dous enterprise is nothing less than to make a going concern of a dream, of an ideai—nothing less than to round to mature efficiency that modern instru- ment of the Western Hemisphere, Pan- Americanism. * K k% We all know what Pan-Americanism is. Well, do we! pers give accounts of its various ap- pearances — today _a conference Latin American officials, yesterday a commercial congress, the night before a social to-do, once a week the radio contributing to the good cause of bet- ter acquaintance through characteristic music, now and then a good-will flight, and once the notable spectacle of an incoming_ President of States off to learn lesons of South America at first hand. But 1t is the office of the newspaper to give the news, not to round up bodies of knowl- edge, nor to compare and evaluate these, nor to project them into a logical and plausible future. It takes the ex- pert to do this sort of thing. Just as it takes imagination and a deep sense of drama to put such knowledge across for the intelligent use of the general reader. * ok ok And here is the expert. And here is the inspired book about South America that he has created. Turn to the last chapter of this book. There you will find Pan-Americanism, its body and spirit. There your questions are an- swered. Whose the vision that reached out for this thing? Whose the experi- ence that advanced it into a working scheme of international relationships? Whose the patience that fostered it under discouragement and imminent failure? Here you will read that, like every other worth-while thing under the sun, this one, too, was in the be- ginning but a seed of inspired thought scattered here and there by wise men already convinced of the futility of war and then more war. The seed grew, slowly, yielding season by sea- son the good fruitage of freer con- tacts among the American peoples, bet- ter knowledge, readier accommodations and the gradual displacement of the man on horseback by the man in the fleld and at the machine. An eco- nomic world was crowding hard the world of conquest, was growing neg- ligent as well toward the rule of pure politics and involved diplomacy. Here you have the heart of Pan-American- ism by a scholar who, happily, is the dramatist, too. Here is history—the rise of this new theory, the agents of its growth, the occasions upon whica it has .operated beneficently in the Western Hemisphere, its failures, its present status and the promise that it offers to civilization. These elements are united by the writer to make 2 living thing of the special ism of Pan- America. * K ok K Leading to this subject is a chapter that contributes definitely to it as ap- proach and interpretation. This is the “doctrine” that made President Monroe famous, one that has contributed to something of foreign misunderstanding and discontent. Flexible to expanding international circumstance, however, this centenarian among doctrines there~ by demonstrates its still robust vitality, its undiminished efficacy at point of need. Dr. Gibbons clears up, for the time being at least, the quality of the Monroe Doctrine as an instrument of international limitations. And now, only now, do we come to the body of the book itself, “The New Map of South America.” Looks like plain loitering, doesn’t it! Such, how- ever, is not the intent. We've lingered here, perhaps too long, because this is in a sense a home matter, ready for intimate intercourse, for prolonged companionship. Besides, Dr. Gibbons is generaily recognized as the prince of map makers. Already are we familiar with the art that has turned Europe Asfa, Africa, into living lands and peo ples, info institutions, into the inter- play of humanity under one or another of the supreme passions that drive men to adve:ture, conquest, the formation of new states, the invention of diplomacies to cover lust and greed and rapacity. ‘We know of his way with continents—a way that works a clear conjuration with words and paper that is quite plain save for dots sprinkled over it and crawling lines and conventional bound- aries. Not such at all are the “maps” of this writer in their effect. As I read here, enchanted with the tremendous adventure that all South America is, sharing in the explorations and expedi- tions—yes, sharing in the fighting, too— then settling to the activities of peace and growth and prosperity and promise —why, then, I have a deep regret that such glorified geography as this is, that such inspired maps of guidance and illumination do not come into the hands of students in the schools. Why do they not? However, do you read this “map.” Read about these countries to the south, and quite especially read about Brazil—the only country there not Spanish in origin and speech. This, mind you, not to the derogation of the others. They are, in so many respects fine and splendid. But Brazil is big and overlooking—in her mind, I mean. Makes no bones at all about social equality in a situation so mixed as to (.hrwo\v us, lfi it existed here, into fits e than a mere building of extraor- | But, without question, it | To be sure, the pa- | of the United | This is a special department devoted | to the handling of inquiries. You have | | at your disposal an extensive organiza- | tion in Washington to serve you in any capacity that relates to information. Write your question, your name, and | your address clearly, and inclose two cents in coin or stamps for reply. Send to The Evening Star information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director,| ‘Washington, D. C. | Q. Who furnishes the bodyguards for the President?>—L. D. M. A. The President’s bodyguards are | members of the United States Secret | Service. . What were Theodore Roberts’ most recent pictures?—G. T. S. A. “Masks of the Devil” and “Ned | McCobb's Daughter.” Q. Why weren't aviators equipped | with parachutes during the World | War?>—R. M. A. At that time, parachutes were in airplanes. and were not considered of much help. Q. How does t sailing vessel compare with that of a steel steamship?—A. C. C. A. The average life of a wooden sail- ing vessel is about 30 years: that of a steel steam vessel, about 20 years. . Is the temperature ever above freezing within the Arctic Circle?>—F. C. A. Instances of temperature above | 32 degrees Fahrenheit have been record- ed in Arctic regions. In Svitzbergen the average temperature of July is 40 degrees Fahrenheit, at Lady Franklin Bay 37 degrees. The distribution of ihe average temperatures for July <hows a circumpolar area of 35 degrees Fahrenheit, which lies mostly north of latitude 80 degrees between North America and Europe. Q Does the earth lose weight due | to the consumption of coal and other fuels?—C. F. A. When coal or other material is taken from the earth and converted into gas, it does not make any change in the weight of the earth. In con- sidering this question, it must be re- membered that the atmosphere ltselfl weighs down upon the earth with a| pressure proportional to its density and | its height and that the weight of any floating body, such as gas, etc., within it, is added to the total weight of the Whatever the “war to end wars” accomplished as to Europe, it is most | encouraging to note how the conditions looking toward the absolute outlawing of war in the Western Hemisphere are developing. Another great step has been iaken, within the last week, by | the work of the Pan-American Confer- ence in agreeing upon a multilateral treaty establishing compulsory arbitra. tion among at least 20 of the 21 na-| tions of Ncrth and South and Central America. At the same time, it is announced that two serious threats of wars in| South America have been met with| measures which will probably avert the impending hostilities. e For many years, war had been im- minent between Chile and Peru. aver the Tacna-Arica boundary dispute. Bolivia was a party in interest in that dispute, since the claims of both Peru and Chile shut off Bolivia entirely from her former access to the Pacific Ocean. | The friction directly between Peru and | Chile threatened war for years, diplo- matic relations were suspended, and the dispute was referred to the President of the United States for arbitration. All that the United States has been able to accomplish has been a renewal of diplo- matic relations between the disputants, but that is of very great significance in that it demonstrates a willingness of both parties to find a wav out, without resorting to bloodshed. The diplomats are now negotiating a settlement, most amicably, which will then be approved by the arbitrator, the President of the United States. That happy outcome cannot be credited to any new treaty, but is of even greater significance, in showing the development of a will toward peace | and an abandonment of war as a na- tional policy for maintaining “rights.” * Kk K X A later instance of the same nature came even -during the sessions of the Pan-American Conference, when Bolivia openly threatened hostile action to force Paraguay to cede certain access to a navigable river claimed by Paraguay to be wholly within her domain, which would give Bolivia direct connection with the Atlantic Ocean—she having despaired of access to the Pacific. Claims of right to possession of ter- ritory containing that access to the boundary river were made by both countries, and hostile military opera- tions were charged by each against the other. There was no treaty of compulsory arbitration which would cover the cri but, through the vig- orous action of the Pan-American Con- ference, a protocol was agreed upon by both countries for the appointment of a commission on conciliation, and that carries with it a pledge to suspend mili- tary maneuvers. The commission is authorized only country was the aggressor in the re- | cent crisis, but the essential thing is| hat its appointment suspends hostile | tion, and there will be no further | danger of war, for by the time the | commission will be ready to report facts the new Pan-American multi- lateral treaty will be in force, making war so hateful in the Western Hemisphere that it will be unthinkable as a means of gaining the Bolivian goal of a corridor to the sea. * oK Kok While these advancing steps refer only to this hemisphere, the world at large is favoring the Kellogg-Briand treaty to outlaw war for all the 60 nations. The United States Senate is now debating | the ratification of that multilateral| treaty, with such indications of its rati- fication clalmed, that there seems, ac- cording to Senate leaders of both politi- cal parties, to be no fear of its non- approval. A vote of ratification may be taken this week. ‘These are days of great hope of “peace on earth,” good will to nations, though patriots want no uncertainty as to the principle of national preparedness against any flareback from aggressors who might imagine that peace means weakness. * kK K The greatest pacifist among Presi- dents of the present generation. was the man often remembered for his dictum, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”| It would take considerable nerve for any one to accuse President Roosevelt of supineness in the face of a na- tional affront, yet in all of his adminis- tration there was never a hostile shot fired on land or sea. He believed in peace with strength, Last Sunday was the tenth anniver- sary of his death, and a number of his friends made their annual pilgrimage to do honor to his grave. There, an ex- tract from Col. Roosevelt's speech, made at the Sorbonne, France, April 13, 1910, was 'read by Brig. Gen. Frank R. Mc- Coy, as follows: of outrage. Has done away with capital punishment, too, has Brazil, with nothing fatal ensuing, but with, it must be, a fine expansion of the spirit instead. Not Brazil alone, but all the countries of the continent join here to make a living pageant of the develop- ment of peoples. An incomparable writer on his own theme is Herbert the experimental stage as adjuncts to| life of a wooden | {to inquire into the facts as to which |* ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. atmosphere. No change in the actual weight of the earth could be effected unless the gas and smoke escaped en- tirely from the atmosphere and passed out into space. This does not occur and the floating products of combustion do not remain permanently in the atmos- phere, but sooner or later are brought back again, partly by the direct effect of gravity and partly as the result of combining with other floating sub- stances that finally subside, as when impurities are carried down by rain. Although the weight of the earth as a whole is not altered by the conversion into gas. the distribution of weight on the earth’s surface may be affected. Q. What was the property loss by fire in_19272—R. McC. A. In 1927 the fire losses in_the United States amounted to $320,59: 600, according to statistics compiled the Journal of Commerce of New York. Q Why was Death Valley named?—H. K. A. Death Valley received its name from the fact that in 1850 a party of gold-seekers with their families made 2 one-day camp in the valley and less than half of them survived, the re- mainder being overcome by heat and thirst. A few escaped over the Pana- mints to the bountiful Californian plains; the others returned to the East. Q. How old is George Gershwin?— v A. ‘Gershwin, who is probably best | known as the composer of the “Rhap- sody in Blue,” is now 29 years old. Q. Under what name was the John Barrymore divorce secured?—T. W. A." Under the name of Blythe, which is the rcal name of the Barrymore family. 50 | M. | Q. Is it possible to tell a criminal by a glance at his physiognomy?—B. E. C. A. Tests by criminologists and ph: cians conducted at Sing Sing show con- clusively that the criminal’s features and physical make-up are no different from those of law-abiding citizens. Q. How did the name Freemason originate?—S. D. A. The term grew out of the fact that only craftsmen not under control of the guilds were eligible. As the election was required to be unanimous, the members denoted themselves Free and Accepted Masons. BY PAUL V. COLLINS. “We speak of international law, but international law is something wholly different from private or municipal law, and the capital difference is that there is a sanction for the one and no sanction for the other; that there is an outside force which compels in- dividuals to obey the one, while there is no such outside force to compel obedience as regards the other.” It is noteworthy that that vital dif- ference was pointed out by Mr. Roose- velt 15 years ago, yet, today, some of the critics of the Kellogg treaty to outlaw war by international agreement allege that because the treaty contains no penalty (beyond public condemna- tion), therefore it is weak and would be of no avail self-enforcement. President Roosevelt found, 15 years ago, that that very same “weakness” ap- plies to all international laws. * ok ok X President Roosevelt, in his Sorbonne speech, pointed out: “International law will, I belleve, as the generations pass, grow stronger and stronger until, in some way or other, there develops the power to make it respected. But as yet it is only in the first formative period. As yet, as a rule, each nation is of necessity obliged to judge for itself in matters of vital importance between it and its neighbors, and action must of necessity, where this is the case, be different from what they are where, as amongst pri- vate citizens, there is an outside force whose action is all-powerful and must be invoked in any crisis of importance. “It is the duty of wise statesmen, gifted with the power of looking ahead, to try to encourage and build up every movement which will substitute or tend to substitute some other agency for force in the settlement of international disputes. * * * It is the duty of every honest statesman to try to guide the Nation so that it shall not wrong any other nation. But, as yet, the great civilized peoples, if they are to be true fo themselves and to the cause of hu- manity and civilization, must keep ever in mind that, in the last resort, they must possess both the will and the power to resent wrongdoing from oth- ers. The men who sanely believe in a lofty morality preach righteousness; but they do not preach weakness, whether among private citizens or among nations. * * * We believe in peace, but if peace and justice con- flict we scorn the man who would not stand for justice, though the whole world came in arms against him.” Can any reader doubt after reading the above that, were Roosevelt today in the White House, he would not sup- port both the treaties outlawing war as mnational policy and the 15-cruiser bill, to male it surer that “we do not preach weakness"? * X ok ok The United States has a record of having ever been a leader in the cause of peaceful settlements of international controversies, yet it has always recog- nized that international law depends upon public sentiment, world-wide. rather than upon statutory penalties for its enforcement. There is no super- power which can inflict punishment for | violation of international agreements— all enforcement must come from public condemnation for breaches of faith. Never has that been more clearly ex- pressed than in the pending Kellogg muitilateral treaty abolishing war as a recognized national policy. International law has never been codified; it is published in no stat- ute book, but like British common law, it is the growth of precedents and usages generally accepted, but never defined. As additional pre- cedents are accumulated for substi- tuting peaceful means in place of bat- tles in the maintenance of interna- tional rights, such “unwritten laws"” will become quite as strong as the common law of a single nation, similarly devel- oped by precedent upon precedent. Without a world supergovernment al sorbing national independence and n: tional sovereignty, there is no other way for creating a body of international aw. b ‘The United States was the tor of this idea, for in 1794 it began the practice of proposing arbitration for in- ternational adjustments—more than a century prior to the Czar's abortive gesture of establishing a “Permanent Court of International Justice” at The Hague, even while Russia was busy building ships for her proposed aggres- sion against Japan. It was in the Jay trealy with Great Britain in 1794 that the United States provided for three commissions to inquire into certain spe- cific controversies. That did not apply to future disputes, however, but it es- tablished a powerful precedent. Nevertheless, arbitration has often been hindered by the objections and amendments of the Senate when such treaties came up for ratification. In 1897 the Olney-Pauncefote treaty be- tween the United States and Great Britain was so amended by our Senate that the President refused to sign it. The same happened to arbitration treatles negotiated by President Roose- velt and repudiated by him after the Senate's butchering; also likewise by President ‘Taft in 1911. While the United States Government has signed the Pan-American treaty without any Adams Gibbons. To miss a Gibbons “map” is to miss a rare combination of knowledge informed by art, reservations, what will be its fate w the Senate takes it up? et (Copyright, 1929, by Psul V. Coliins)