Evening Star Newspaper, January 11, 1929, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €., FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 1929. : THE EVENING STAR . With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. FRIDAY.......January 11, 1929 THEODORZ W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: 1ith St. and Pennsyivania Ave New York Office: 110 East +2nd St. Chicago Offce: Tower Building European Office, 14 Regent St.. London. England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. The Evenine Star.............45¢ per month The Evening and Sunday St (when 4 Sundays) ~....60c per month The Evenine and Sunday Star (when 5 Sundays) ... 65¢ per month RS ... 5¢ per ccpy ection made at'the of cach montn T3 ay be sent in by ‘mail cr telephone Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Dally and Sunday....1 yr. $1000; 1 mo.. 85¢c Daily onlv 1 yr. $600: 1 mo.. f0c Sunday onlv . 1 yr. $4.00: 1 mo. 40¢ All Other States and Canada. 1 yr..$12.00: 1 mo., $1.00 "1 yr., $8.00; 1 mo, Sunday only 1y $5.00. 1 mo.! Member of tne Associated Press. The Associated Press ts exclusively (ntitled to the use for republication of all raws dis dited to it oF not othurwise cred. raper, and also the local rews borein. Al richts of publication of ishe: spatcaes herein are also reserved ou special = A Valuable Inquiry. | Plans are shaping up for a |hurnunh" fnvestigation by a presidential commis- sion of the whole subject of the enforce- ment of the prohibition laws in this| country. Such an inquiry would be ir line with the statement made by Presi dent-elect Hoover a year ago when he called prohibition a noble experiment, which must be worked out construc- tively The suggestion for a governmental Anquiry into prohibition enforcement | came first from Senator Jones of Wash- ington, an ardent dry. He introduced | I 1 at the present session call ing for an investigation by a Senate committee. Scnator Edge of New Jer- a consistent wet, immediately pro- | d that a commission of nine be ap- | sey, po! pointed by the President-elect, after he {bed W shall have become President, to carry|to do. on the inquiry. The indications now arc that the resolution, when finally adopted, will call for the appointment | of a presidential commission, with a| report to Congress. | The principle of the prohibition of j begin turning them on fifteen manufacture and sale of liquor for bev- | erage purposes has been written into the | Constitution. The Volstead act has been spread upon the statute books for the enforcement of the constitutional provision. For the first time the sub- ject of prohibition has entered promi- nently into a national campaiga, and the candidate supporting prohibition | has been overwhelmingly elected. } Enforcement of the law, however, is | # different thing. It is a matter of| common knowledge that the law is vio- lated constantly; that a veritable swarm | ©f bootleggers are peddling liquor in all parts of the country. In some of the States and municipalities the prohibi- tion law is vastly unpopular. This, too, | was demonstrated by the election. and by elections to the Senate and House. It §s unthinkable that the people of the United States shall be willing to, settle down, or to permit a large portion | of its members to settle down, to a con- - gistent course of law violation. It makes for evil conditions and is a breeding | ground for law violation generally. The | probabilities are that the enforcement | of prohibition will become an outstand- ing issue in this country that will réach into the congressional and national cempaigns of the next few years. The proposed inquiry by a presidential commission should prove valuable. It should reveal to the country what need there is for new or modified legisfation. | i 1t should reveal also what steps further should be taken by the executive de- | partment of the Government to bring about proper enforcement of the pro-| hibition laws. If the President-elect is | called upon to appoint the proposed | commission, it may be expected he will pick men well qualified not only to| make the investigation, but also to enalyze the information which they obtain and to make recommendations | thereon. ——ra—————— A statesman who knows when to keep | silent always wins more confidence | than one who appears to struggle with | temptation to talk too much. I SR Explorers in the Antarctic are able to concentrate their intellectual facul- | ties on new discoveries instcad of old | political arguments. e Scicuce bas found a way to exercisc ! 2 powerful and benevolent hostility by | @eclaring war oa the flu germ. — e - Purifying Big Business. ~ There is far more than meets the | eye in the impending battle for su- premacy in the Standard Oil of Indiana between John D. Rockefeller, jr., and Col. Robert W. Stewart, the chairman of that company's board. Mr. Rocke- feller, a heavy stockholder in the cor poration, sceks to prevent the re- election of Col. Stewart to his present position on account of the Senate per- jury charges of which he was recently acquitted. Previously the chairman resignation was requested by Mr. Roc! d refused. : in the background of this cen Standard Oil Titans is a vhich far surpasses its impor- tance as internecine strife among rival stockholding groups. That factor is the realization upon the part of an out- standing captain of indusiry that Big Business must purify itself if it is to re- tain the confidence of the American public. As all the world knows, it is the oil industry of all industries that has ac- quired disrepute in the United States in cotemporary times. Now comes the scion of our greatest oll dynasty and proposes that the trade shall give drastic, con- crete evidence of its determination to rehabilitate itself in popular esteem. There is no surer way of convincing the Amerizan people that business is straight, as well as “big,” than to drive from its key positions men who cease to stand for the highest ethics in com- mercial and financial life. It is witn that end in view that the chief heir to the Rockefeller fortune seeks the scalp of a ecnspicuous subsidiary executive. 8¢ | | before sunrise in the morning and to }are needed longer than ordinarily: per- | interest when one realizes that it is tak- 1t personifies, was the exception that proves the rule, just as recreant offi- cials who became implicated in its mal- cdorous course were themselves the ex- ceptions proving the rule that for every crook in public life there are a thou- | sand honest. But in our highly commercialized age i there is urgent call for unblemished probity at the top. Unless there. is | scrupulous square-dealing there, it 1s | too much to expect it to be universal lower down. The men higher up carry not only the burden of directing policy along lines designed to be remunera- tive for stockholders. They shoulder the no-less-grave responsibility of see- |ing that the business from which divi- | dends are derived is conducted by lead- | ers so true to themselves that they can- | not be false to any man. | The American business world justly | | resents a program of growing Federal { encroachment upon private enterprise. | The surest way of arresting that move- ment is the method Mr. Rockefeller, jr., | { s adopting | e Too Much Darkness. Thousands of early risers who leave | their homes and start to work an hour before sunrise have experienced the k of witnessing a well lighted city | ddenly plunged in Stygian darkness as long rows of ‘siately electric lights withdraw their friendly beams and'go | out. If the early risers are pedestrians, they piunge alcad through the thick- | ened gloom and seek the safety of the | sidewalk, and if they are automobile | arivers they apply brakes and slow | | down to adjust their eyes to a new | ! strain. For a long period the city streets, through the night so brightly | | lighted. are hidden in inky blackness | until a lazy sun peers tardily over the horizon and takes up his daily task. Those who have witnessed this phe- | { nomenon of daily recurrence through- | out the Winter may envision some | leepy watchman somewhere in thcf { labyrinth of electric switches mmml]ingi | strect lights, who decides that his night's work is over and therefore turns off the lights and goes home and to hile there is still work for him But this is not the right pic- ! ture. An automa‘ic clock controls the !lights, and this clock is sot by human hands to turn off the lights, or begin turning them off, forty-five minutes minutes before sunset in the afternoon. Some- times the clock does not function per- fectly, and the lights go off much too scon. But more often it obeys the hand that sets it, and turns the lights off as directed. Forty-five minutes before sunrise on any Winter morning finds the city as black as blackest night. The clock should be instructed to' leave the lights on until fifteen minutes before sunrise, 2t least. And there is another thing the clock should be told about, If it is raining, or snowing, or if there is an ugly fog rolling up from the Poto- mac, the clock should be told that lights haps they are nceded even after the sun is alleged to have risen. ‘What Washington needs, in these days of dark mornings, is a wise hand to set the clock and lights that burn | 25 long as light is nceded. Turning the lights on and off according to a table showing when the sun rises and sets is excellent in theory, but daily ex- perience shows its fallibilities. — . ... .. Inspiration. The Star has been presenting some articlés'dealing with the reclamation of | boys through the application of psy-| chology and common sense in the local | school system. Perhaps no more inspiring tales, stranger than fiction, have ever beea presented to the readers of this paper. Triumphs of science in reclaiming waste lands, or getting rare gases out cf | thin air, or making two materials grow where only one grew before, are no more exciting or important than these simple achievements with the plastic human soul. | It is inspiring to realize that here in | the National Capital children who do not “fit” are tdken in hand, or, rather, in mind, and through the application of intelligence and love made into possi- bilities of good citizens of the future. Such work takes on added aspects of ing place, not in another land, but ac- tually in one's own community. The children helped were, in appearance, | just such youngsters as passersby see | treoping out of the schools every day. | In reality, however, there was some- thing entirely wrong in their mental and spiritual make-up, until one with the ability to see and understand put | himself to work. i The results, as detailed in the articles | instanced, are not only life-saving to| the children involved, but also to the | community and the Nation, and an in-| spiration to all who read of them.| “Their picturesque presentation, it may | be added, constitutes an example of | newspaper work of high character. ———— Russia was supposed to be utterly im- poverished. Where all the alleged Soviet ‘pmpagnnda money comes from is one 1 he mysteries which suggest a com- ! n of fiction and politics. 2 - “Nourishing Food.” There is a great deal of misunder- standing about this common phrase. Now that the country is undergoing its annual crops of bad colds, and is further inflicted with the influenza, physicians are advising plenty of “nourishing food” as one of the best preventives. he sad thing is that many persons are likely to jump to the conclusion that they know exactly what is meant by the phrase, when the fact is that their conception of what it means is mostly erroneous, This occurs not because they do not know what 4avords mean, but because there has grown up in this country a widespread belief that plenty of food | will help prevent sickness. Nothing | could be farther from the truth. This belief had its origin in a coun- try and in a day when agricultural pur- suits were paramount. Those living close to the soil, who go out to labor at 4 am., who think nothing of man- ual toil for 14 or more hours at a stretch, may well believe that much | No jpstification exists for the theory - now and then ventilated that Big Pusi- ness 25 a class or as a habit goes ! for | hands, after all necessity for such|sald Uncle Eben. jis { thought. i blundering, greping her way along: un- through environment, circumstances orl necessity, will find that nature by no means makes such large demands, es- pecially when one has passcd the magic | age of 21 vears. A review of the oldest men who ever lived will show.that in almost every case such men have been abstemious eaters. Cornaro, the Venetian, ate no more than 14 ounces of food a day. Not alone, however, is a great bulk of food not necessary; what is neces- sary is food which contains th Vvital principles of life. Mill vegetables, grains, fruits—these are held by mod- ern science to be both nourishing and cleansing. both nutritive and healing. The sedentary city worker, above all | persons, should think twice before bur- | dening his system with an unnecessary | amount of daily feod under the mis. taken idea that he must cep up his sirength.” Afternoon slespiness, com- mon with many workers, in part re- cults from such mistaken “feeding.” The majority of city men and women will discover, as the result of a fair; trial, that they are in better health when they eat lightly—for them—and take particular pains to get in their diet the various foodstufls which help build up the resistive powers. v Twins. Birth in the District of Columbia the other day of five scts of girl twins | scemed to point unmistakably to ch; passing of the preponderance of boys | which has prevailed since the World | ‘War. Nature, whatever one may say of her, | a wise old mother, and seems to know exactly what to do at all times, although sometimes her methods may trike critical mortals as lacking fore- { Nature, in some moods, seems blind, charted paths for one knows not what ends. In the last analysis, however, it must be admitted that she docs very well by her children. It would seem an uincontestable fact that the male, although he has seized to himseif various methods of personal aggrandizement, is strictly secondary in the mind and heart of Nature. E The female is so imporiant in the cyes of Nature that the sex would have been in universal domination centuries ago if the universal mother had not slipped up somewhat by giving the male more physical power. This was a serious error, in the econ- omy of Nature, because it p:rmlhlcdl mere man to make the best of himself, thereby consigning woman to a second- ary or inferfor position. Perhaps in nothing is the inherent| superiority of the female better demon- strated than in its sane outlook upon the whole problem of sex. It is a remarkable tribute to women that prac- | tically all the so-called sex crimes are committed by men. In fact, except for a small minority of criminals, all crime is male crime; and those women who “go in for crime” are simply the exception which | proves the rule, They are innocent victims of their male acquaintances. It would seem, then, that a prepon- derance of girl babies is a matter for congratulation to a community, not for such long faces as once greeted the birth of a girl child, or such silly jokes as formerly were heard upon the advent | of twins. ————,—— It would be intercsting to know how | many life-saving medals the average traffic policeman would be entitled to | by actual count. e The cabinet to be selected by Mr. | Hoover is affording the Nation one of the most interesting guessing contess | ever held. SEeLE IR In studying economic perspectives, it | often becomes desirable to pause for a close-up on the compensation for faith- ful workers in Government sorvice. —_— e Nearly every cabinet forecaster starts with Andrew Mellon and theh begins | the guesswork. e = Statesmanship is doing its best to stimulate sportsmanship and persuade | debtors to pay up and lock pleasant. e ————— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Successful Day. As evening shadows gather 'round I pause in gratitude profound; I say, “The Fates my fortune bless. Hooray! The day was a’ success!” No auto fatally drew nigh. No airplane smote me from the sky. I knew just when to go or stop, And quarreled with no crossing cop. T met no trace of bootleg bands. No gangster said, “Hold up your hands!” At night, I read of crimes at first, Then dozed and never knew the worst. So, when the shadows gathered deep I, still intact, prepared for sleep, And said in reverent truthfulness, “Hooray! The day was a success!” Spced Impressions. “Don’t you sometimes think we are living too fast?” “No,” answered Senator Sorghum. “I don't believe we are living too fast. We are merely talking too fast.” Jud Tunkins says if people must have myths, he wishes they'd cut out the witches and stick to somebody pleasant, | like Santa Claus. Outfording Ford. A witch upon a broomstick rides. She says, as on her way she glides, “This locomotion’s very neat— I have our Uncle Henry beat!” Wielding No Influence. “Several influential diplomatic at- taches have asked to dance with you.” “They mistake my position,” said Miss Cayenne. “I ant socially inclined, but I am not in politics.” “One of lofty mind,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “may fall into error by assuming that his ideals are shared by those wno have not even tried to understand them.” Erratic Art. Artistic demonstration Brings mingled fear and hope. Part seems like “inspiration” And part seems like plain “dope.” and hearty food is a necessity for them. Those who insist on eating like farm- “I ain’ foolin’ 'bout no witch talk,” THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Telling ghost stories around the fam- ily fireside is another of the old-time sports which has passed into the dis- card. Such spooky narrative was a standard diversion in the days when George Ade's fables were in their prime, whei the norse and buggy constituted the stylish means of transportation, when automobiles were just coming in. Maybe the evening was begun with the recitation by some favored member of, the circle of James Whitcomb Riley’s poem about how “the goblins will git yu {if up don't—watch—out.” Then came the ghost stories proper. | They were told in bated breath, be- tween the eerie hours of 8 and 9 p.m., to the accompaniment of classic pop- eves. Afier the session was over, the vist tors were afraid to go home, and the members of the household were equall afraid to stay. It is safe to say that more harm than good came out of these seances, if one might call them that. No one knows today how many nerv- ous organizations were more or less shocked by the appeal to the sense of mystery and terror which lay like a crrpent in flowers in the midst of an exciting narrative. ¥ ok ok x A good ghost story which was never told, however, was one written by the French master, Alexandre Dumas, bet- ter known for the immortal romances which have made his name a housc- | hold word throughout the world. In “M. de Chauvelin’s Will” the great | romancer wrote a real ghost story which deserves to be better known by the devotees of such things. It is not found in the ordinary edition of Dumas, and necessarily has a different flavor than most of the master’s works, The story, which today would be called a novelette, rather than a long short story, really divides itsell into three parts, an introduction of three chapters, the ‘story itself, and a narra- tive of the death of Louis XV. Since we are not simply telling a ghost story here. but rather discussing the art, and talking about a book, we will combine the three as they are in the story i Dumas did not always stand outsida his stories. In some of his shorter offorts he rather relaxed. seeming to enioy to the full his powers of writing simply as writing. Such rules as he held himself to in his longer storics he purposely threw away when thus diverting himself, as it were. In the present novelette he combined personal reminiscence, ghost story and historical sketch. EE The first three chapters deal with an old fricnd of Dumas, a great booklover, who had 40,000 volumes in his home, with so many piled unread in his attic that the house began to give away. This old man had a beautiful pastel of a woman friend of his youth, which one night fell down, a harbinger of her sad death at the same hour. Thus, while merely seeming to be telling about his friend, Dumas subtly gets the reader into the right frame of mind. The story of M. de Chauvelin’s will is the story which the old friend told to Dumas. It has no other relation to what has gone before, and Dumas sensibly forgets the remainder. A reader might well begin, then, at the fourth chapter. In it we are introduced to the bril- liant court of King Louis XV, the mon- | arch who rightly predicted that after him would come the deluge. M. de WASHINGTON One of the most diverting Hoover cabinet suggestfons of the moment is that a “Hoovercrat,” i. e, a Democrat who voted the Republican ticket last November, ought to be made a member of the incoming administration. It was Senator Carter Glass of Virginia who coined the term “Hoovercrat” for Demo- crats who couldn't abide Al Smith. How many hundreds of thousands-—or millions—of them there were mnobcdy knows, but their name was certainly legion. to this cheerver that if Hoover is filled with & genuine sense of gratitude he will “recognize” the “Hoovercrats” in the make-up of his official household. There aren’t many precedents for the inclusion of a member of a President’s opposition party in the White House family. Grover Cleveland made Walter Greshan. of Indiana Secretary of State in 1893. Gresham was a Mug- wump—a bolter from the G. O. P. in 1884, Theodore Roosevelt sclected a gold Democrat, Luke E. Wright of Ten- nessee to fill Taft’s unexpired term as Secretary of War in 1908. President Tafl a year later appointed Jacob M. Dickinson, another Tennessean, Secre- tary of War, despite the latter’s Demo- cratic antecedents. Woodrow Wilson named Bainbridge Colby Secretary of State in 1920, although Colby was one of the founders of the Bull Moose party and its candidate for United States Senator from New York in 1916. Rk ¥ ‘What the pacifist crusaders couldn’t accomplish in Washington this week the flu has done—knock out Senator Frederick Hale, Republican, of Maine, Senate naval affairs chairman in charge of the cruiser bill. He happens to be stricken with the season's most fash- fonable malady at the same moment that his venerable mother, Mrs. Eugene Hale, has also succumbed to it. Another valiant pro-cruiserite in the Senate, Senator Robert B. Howell, Republican Progressive, of Nebraska, is hors de combat. For the past month he has been at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington fighting a pestiferous attack of phle- bitis. Howell is an Annapolis graduate, class of 1885. He was a lieutenant in the Navy during the Spanish-American ‘War. ¥ ok ok k Among the pre-presidential per- B LesiuL Hevbart Floiies dlsposg,le is one which many of his fellow men envy him. It's a private elevator at his ‘Washington hotel headquarters, which has been set aside for his exclusive use in the most literal sense of the term. When the “lift,” which is what they call an elevator in London, where the President-elect so long lived, lands him on his hotel floor, it just sticks around and waits for him to go down in it. * ok ok ok Perhaps it's Representative E. Hart Fenn's editorial training and back- ground which make him want to blue pencil the apportionment system under which the House now exists and revise it on modern lines. Fenn, who has rep- resented the Hartford, Conn., district in Congress for four terms and was re- cently re-elected to a fifth, is one of the old-time newspaper men in Congress. He became a reporter in the seventies after leaving Yale, and was later asso- ciated with the Hartford Post and Hart- ford Courant as city editor, State editor, special and editorial writer. The Con- necticut Yankee, who thinks there’s a better chance now to pass a reappor- tionment bill than at any time during the past 10 years, is one of the veterans of the House in point of age. He is in his 73d year, but pushing the reappor- tionment measure with the vigor of a House youngster. K Kk Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr of the Union Theological Seminary sprang a couple of neat epigrams at the pacifist ban- quet in Washington on January 8. One of them was, “It’s better to build friend- ships than battleships.” The other was, “The offensive power of a gun is guar- “One Halloween per $hady practiccs, Teapot Dome, and all amounts of food is removed, whether year is mo' dan enough foh me.” anteed by its manufacturers. defensive value depends upon the psy- chology of the man on the trigger.” | asked M. de Chauvelin to sign it, but | What Dr. Niebuhr, of course, was get- An unreconciled spokesman of | the Democratic organization remarked | Chauvelin_was his favorite courtier. Just how close to actuality Dumas stuck | only the special student of the period would know, but, after all, it makes lit- tle difference—he was close enough. The King, who was 65 years old, had grown sad under his dissipation, com- bined with a prophecy that he would die two months after M. de Chauvelin. Both of them were struck with melan- choly on the same morning. The “lever,” or rising of the King, was attended by all the courtiers. The King couldn't go to bed or get up with- out a crowd. Poor King! M. de Chau- velin, of course, being the monarch's boon companion, of necessity had to be there. This morning, however, he asked Louis to be permitted to retire to his | home, where his wife, whom he had seen but once a year for 10 years, awaited him. The King with reluc- tance gave his permission. ¥k M. de Chauvelin was so glad to get home that he ordered his household notary to make his will at once. He had a premonition. The worthy no- tary drew it up in good form, and the latter said he would do it in the morning. Just then a horseman thundered into the estate, crying “In the name of the King!” It was a courier summoning M. de Chauvelin back to Paris. The King couldn't get along without him. Smiles wreathed the face of M. de Chauvelin. He had been hoping for the summons, secretly, and now it had come. Into his carriage he jumped, and away he posted to Paris before his | astonished wife and sons could remon- strate, Two nights later, while the King and M. de Chauvelin were playing at hom- bre, the fashionable card game of the day, the courtier pitched forward on his face, struck with apoplexy. “Take it away! Take it away!” cried Louis, leaving the room, followed by his court. At the same hour, at M. de Chauvelin’s estate, events were transpiring. ‘Mme, de Chauvelin saw a ghostly fiz- ure turn into the great gate, and pass |out of sight to the house. The two boys saw him, and came forward call- ing, “Father! Father!” An old servant heard steps in the library, and a great tearing about, as of one in haste. He went up to the room with a gun, thinking it might be burglars, but there was no one there. ‘When the notary investigated a few minutes later, he found that M. de Chauvelin's will, which had been care- fully placed away, was stretched out on the desk, and— M. de Chauvelin's signature was at- tached. He had come back to sign his will, and then had gone away. It was later ascertained that the mysterious apoearance at the chateau had coin- cided exactly with the moment of M. | de Chauvelin’s death . Alexandre Dumas then goes on with his final chapters, narrating the end of the King. a none too pleasing story, but in keeping with what has gone before, certainly. Thus the reader proceeds from the pleasantly personal picture of the old collector and his books, through the | ghostly tale of the strange signing of the will, to the horrible death of the great King. After laying the work aside, the read- er is likely to say to himself that the ting at is the pacifist theory that a strong Navy is an incentive to aggres- sive war. If he has the United States in mind, which pacifists sometimes do not have, the learned doctor's sugges- tion is not altogether sound. America has had great power on land and sea for many years, but the “psychology” of Uncle Sam is traditionally opposed to pulling the trigger of his gun for dggressive purposes. * ok K x It probably is not generally known to people out in the United States that the citizens of Washington are dig- ging into their own pockets to defray | the costs of the Hoover inaugural cele- bration. When it is brought to the attention of enfranchised Americans that the voteless District of Columbia is putting up the money for the Nation's quadrennial show, it may occur to them that it is the height of poetic injustice that 500,000 patriotic men and women should bear such a burden. It is sug- gested thet inauguration visitors from the four quarters of the republic will be in mood to listen sympathetically to Washington's tale of suffrage woe. ERE Labor, Washington organ of the rail- road brotherhoods, in its account of the recent railway valuation case before the Supreme Court, paints the following picture of “the most interesting figures on the bench, those two towers of lib- eralism, Holmes and Brandeis”: ““Holmes is a walking miracle. He is 87 years old. He served through the Civil War. It is more than 65 years since he was desperately wounded, many thought fa- tally wounded. Yet here he is, the razor- edged brain as keen as ever, writing opinions that are literature as well as law and doing a full share of the heavy work of the court. Brandeis is a dif- ferent type. His personal resemblance to Lincoln is startling, but it is an| older, and, if possible, a gentler Lincoln. He ptobably has a greater knowledge of present-day economic conditions than any other man on any bench. His learning is prodigious—like that of Holmes, but on rather different lines. Both are liberals, but Holmes has more scorn for the oppressor, and Brandeis more sympathy for the oppressed.” (Copyright, 1929.) - Chiang Kai-Shek Sees Hope in China’s Future From the Asheville Times. Through the messages of President Chiang Kai-Shek and Forejgn Minister Wang, Nationalist China greeted the new year and the world with confidence and with a hope surely better based than ever before. These two chiefs recounted the trials undergone for the sake of the republic and summed up a list of solid achieve- ments. The Nationalist flag now flies over all the land, even in Manchuria, where Japan seems to have approached a working agreement with the new rul- ers of China. The government has con- cluded treaties with 12 nations, five of which have given up the “unequal priv- ileges” and all have ratified tariff au- tonomy for China. The immediate big problem is the demebilization of the troops which have so long swarmed through the country— and to keep them demobilized. A con- ference is now working on this ques- tion, which will provide a fundamental test of the real unification of the coun- try and the capacity of the central gov- ernment to function in the primary du- ties of maintaining order and admin- ismrm&lusmx. 3 1f Chiang and his associates can put down war-lording, if they can put chiefs and men into useful labor who have for vears lived upon the spoils of war, if they can administer courts of justice that will command respect at home and abroad, 1929 may mean the beginning of n great era for China. But here hope must wait upon deeds. China is a huge, awkward and untu- | train as well as possible their children, i for fine arts, literature, science. tored matriculate in the school of self- government. No doubt there are yet before Chiang and ?r, ‘Wang tribula- tions which will still’ more sorely try ‘their souls and their ‘talents in states- Youth’s Crimes Charged To Educational System To the Editor of The Star: ) The vital energy of our magnificent country is all but benumbed by our failure to educate the children, in spite of our supporting a public school sys- tem which, next to a world war, is the costliest institution known to man. Passionately we plead for some method of crime prevention among our boys and girls, of whom practically one-third below the age of 17 are brought before the courts, many, many on charges that would make the most hardened Sing| Sing “lifer” of the old order blush for shame. “Does this badness come from afar?” inquires a distinguished Belgian. “Is it | not in the bosom of the family that we | should seek its premier origin?” Yes. Away with this dependence on paid “educators” for work that should be done at home. Require parents to get back into harness. Offer the op- portunity to the willing. Use the long arm of the law on those who are not. Let the school continue to play step- mother to only those unfortunates for whom there can be no real home life. The remedy is drastic, but oh, so wholesome! Repeal the _compulsory school law. Close every kindergarten and primary class, except for the home- less. Make parents responsible for training their children to obey. to work, | to observe the Ten Commandments and the jaws of the land. Instruct parents in such simple, effective methods of home training as have worked fairly weil for several hundred years; later, in improved methods if we have them. Intensity of Work Urged. For children who are likely to benefit by schooling, institute a course that de- mands intensity of work instead of in- tensity of play, such as European chil- dren are subjected to without injury. Eliminate 90 per cent of the classroom supervision, Give teachers full author- ity under the parents and make them responsible for results or for an ex- planation of their failure such as a good judge would accept. In no very long time we shall mate- rially reduce illiteracy among college graduates. We shall help parents estab- lish standards for the young, such as the consciousness of owing an honest day's work in return for a living. Real teachers will then teach, instcad of wearing out their very lives under the ! insolence of youngsters who have never | known wholesome correction at home | and are pushed off to school in order | that selfish mothers may have a free | foot. In this matter Belglum is setting the | world a_good example. “La Ligue de| I'Education familiale” has been organ- ized to give systematic instruction to parents in their duties. It does not mince words. One of the forceful! leaders of this movement is the high- | minded and most intelligent Director | General of the Ministry of Agriculture, | M. Paul De Vuyst, from whose letter of December 24 I quote briefly: “The natural duty of parents is to physically, mentally, morally. Substi- tutes to parents should not interfcre| except in case of necessity, when par-' ents ask them to do so, or when par- | ents are incapable, etc. But it is bet- | ter to make parents capable than to| ask people who have no children to take | care of the children of others. This! is common sense. | Against Common Sense. “The teacher world has exaggerated | Whole is better than he realized at first. | his own business and minimized the It would make a great play. OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE business of parents. This is againsi common sense. “Clergymen, sociologists, teachers say that the family is the basis of society. Consequently, we should organize the family in the best way to make a strong basis. Infant schools, scouting. sport_clubs, etc. take the bo and girls from home instcad of letting them find at their own fireside the true point of departure for their education. The sport is gardening, close to the e, and for the girls domestic econ- omy. “In America and all other parts of the world the best that can be done is to try to have normal families living | normally and acomplishing their duties. Everything in the world is being per- fected except the human being himself. Human character is yet to be improved by methodical home training. If there is no improvement in the homes the next. generation will be no better than this one. There have been centuries There must now be a century of progress in home education. same lines.” Cannot America do can do? ELLA FRANCES LYNCH, Founder, National League of ‘Teacher-Mothers. r——— Newspaper Called Greatest Educator J. Elmer Morgan. Editor of the -Journal: National Educational Association. The educational value of the dafly newspaper is beyond calculation. It is. bullt into the daily lives of millions of people. It supplies the raw mate- rials of thought and action with clock: like regularity and with a speed of manufacture that is one of the mar- vels of modern times. It makes the whole world cne and helps to raise the standard of living by encouraging peo- ple to dress well, to live in better homes, to drive finer automobiles, to eat a more wholesome variety of food, to let their interests go out in a wider range of affairs. Newspapers have been made possible by universal education, and as ‘the schools improve tha press will likewis2 grow better. Newspapers have made a significant gain during the past year by refusing to play up scandals as ex- tensively as formerly. Press associa- tions and newspaper syndicates are giving more attention to education, health, science, politics and geography. What eyes are to the individual, the newspaper is to society. Thoy also teach who follow the reporter's beat,’ who write against time in editorial offices, who know not slgep, nor dis- tance, nor fear, nor fatigue in their heroic search for news. Death of Adamson Loss to Southland From the Fort Worth Record-Telegram. ‘With the passing of William C. Adam- son of Georgia, the South lost an il- lustrious son. There may have been citizens of the Southland with more of spectacularity than the former repre- sentative from the fourth Georgia dis- trict, but none supplied more of actual work and ability to his constituents and to the country at large. He is best remembered as the author of the legislation that averted a threat- ened railway strike in 1916 just previous to the ‘entry of this country into the World War. His counsel was wise and his efforts were untiring. But his efforts covered an imposing array of interests. President Wilson recognized his abilities and gave him the important post of a membership in the Customs Court. He was actively supporting most of the progressive leg- islation of his time, notably the Pacific cable and the Department of Commerce egislators of the Adamson type, un- fortunately, are so few in nun?beer as to convey a peculiar sense of loss at their deaths. The South has had a gencrous share of them, from time to time, but none more deserving of fit- ting remembrance than William C. Adamson. what Belgium Yeah! Such as a Gas Tax From the New London. Conn.. Day. Gov. Allen of Massachusetts urges the Bay State Legislature to curb fatal automobile accidents by legislation. Which sutomatically admits Gov. Allen to The Day’s Old King Canute Club, ? Many readers send signed only with initials, asking that the answers appear in the newspaper. The space is limited and would not ac- commodate a fraction of such requests. The answers published are ones that| may interest many readers, rather than | the one who asks the question only. All questions should be accompanied | with the writer’s name and address and 2 cents in coin or stamps for reply. Send your question to The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C. . When did our flag acquire the| name “Old Glory"?—H. D. C. A. The origin of the term “Old Glory” is contained in a letter written | by Robert S. Rantoul, president of the Essex Institute, Salem, Mass., where the flag about which it was said is sti'l kept. According to a_report. Capt. Driver of Salem in 1831 commanded | the brig Charles Doggett, which sailed | on its famous voyage which resulted in the rescue of the mutineers of the Brit- ish ship Bounty. A letter acknowledg- ing this service conteins Driver's auto- graph, dated November 16, 1880, and bears the words “My ship, my country and my, flag, Old Glory.” It may be airly assumed, therefore, that the| phrase “Old Glory” originated with | Cept. Driver. The flag which was so cesignated by him was presented to him by a friend before starting on this voyage. Q. What is the oldest Church in existence?—F. G. A. The Church of the Nativity is the oldest. It was built by Empress | Helena, A.D. 330, over the grotto where | Christ is supposed to have been born. in _questions | Christian | Q. What is the purpose of the Amer- ican Engineering Standards Committee? | —T1. B. A It . primarily concerned with na- | tional and international industrial standardization. | i arry | B. i | e Can the Pringe of Wales m without his father's’consent?-—M. A. Royal marriages in England have for many years been subject to special laws. The royal marriage act of 1772 enacted that “No descendant of his late majesty, George II, shall be capable of contracting matrimony withcut the previous consent of his majesty, his heirs, and successors, signified under the great seal. But in case any de- scendant of George II, being above 25 years old, shall persist to contract a marriage disapproved of by his majesty such descendant, after giving may contract such marriage, and the same may be duly solemnized without the consent of his majesty, and shall be good except both hou of Parlia- ment shall decl: thereto.” In what year was the tomb of Tutankhamen discovered?—M. N. A. It was found in 1922. The fur- nichings of this tomb are the most splendid yet discovered. Q. What is the population of Russia” B. .1t is now about 150,000,000. £ § Where is Roberi E. Lee buried?— P. P. A.” Gen. Robert E. Lee was buried in the chapel at Lexington, Va. | move objectionab! 12| months’ notice to the privy council, | are their disapprobation | — ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J]. HASKIN. 14 miles, but off the coast of Victoria Land the ice wall is only from 10 to 20 feet high. Q. Why is “8" considered a lucky number?—H. S. A. According to the Pythagorean phil- osophers, “8" was the number of Jjustice because divides evenly. As the first cube it was believed to be representa- tive of the corner stone and hence plenty. Q. What does the term “hors d'oeuvres” mean in engineering?—P. D. A. It refers to an outwork or di- gression. Q. What is the estimated population of Continental United States?—T. B. A. The population is estimated at 119,000,000. Q. How much money is there in cir- culation in this country?—B. P. K. A. There is a little than $5000,- 000,000 actual money in circulation. Q. What is cracked gasoline? Can it be used as a cleansing agent?—E. B. > A. When crude oil is subjected to or- dinary distillation by fire the light proé- ucts distill off up to a temperature of degrees Fahrenheit. Above this tom- perature the hydrocarbons undecg) par- tial decomposition. with the result, that some light products are produced. ‘This is cracking and the light products are cracked gasoline. It is suitable for cleaning when properly treated to re- le color and other constituents. Q. Who started pitching horseshoes? —P. G. A. The g on quoits, which is the ancient discus-throwing of Greece. Few traces of a game resembling quoits can be found on the continent of Eu- rope and its origin may be sought for on the borderlands of Scotland and England. There are references to it ia the Midlands, dating from the begin- e fifteenth century. Ascham us (1545), refers to the layed chiefly by the working classes, who often used horse- shoes for want of quoits, a custom stijl prevailing in country districts. Q. How often should cellars be white- washed?—J. T. A. Cellar walls should be white- washed once or twice a year. White- wash is a disinfectant. ~If the cellar walls admit moisture it is recommended to wash them with a dilute solution of hydrochloric acid (one part acid and five parts water), and then apply a plaster of oil-mixed mortar. Q. When was Godey's Lady's Book first published?—F. J. N. A. The first issue of the Lady's Boo: was published by L. A. Godey in Phik: delphia in December, Q. What was Thomas Jefferson's at- titude toward slavery?—O. B. ! A. In Randall's " | appears the following: |no preparation would render it ex- i pedient to admit them (slaves) to the full rights of citizenship by making them a part of the electoral body; and on the other hand. he considered their retention in the State as a permanently distinct and inferior free caste s fraught with insuperable evils and ;dangers." ame of hprseshoes is based a pastime resembling ning of th in his Toxophil game as being pl “He believed | @ What diffcrence was made in the | Q. What fruits are most important It will bacome so! generally if we all join effort along the | use of heavy and light tanks during | the war?—A. M. | ""A. Heavy tanks usually preceded th | infantry, cutting wires and opent ays through obstacles, while light tan! accompaned the infantry, supporting | them in their attack and destroying | | machine gun nests. | Q. How old is the Rev. John Roach Straton?—R. T. A. He was born in Evansville in 1875, jand will thercfore be 54 years old during | this year. { Q. In what countries is hockey popii- lar?—F. F. A. It is popular in many countries, notably in Great Britain, Switzerland, Canada and the United States. Q. How deep is the ice at the South Pole?—R. E. W. A. The thickness of ice near the | South Pole is estimated by Croll upon | theoretical grounds to be from 12 to as focds?>—D. N. A. Nutrition and Diet says: “The pple leads among the orchard fruits. It carries small amounis of vitamins A. B and C. It has definite laxati properties, probably owing to the lar: cellulose content. The young apple contains a large amount of starch, b as it ripens this is rapidly convert into sugar until when fully ripe it con | tains little or no starch. The acid cor tent decreases as the sugar increas: In like manner its pectin, valuable the formation of jelly, decreases with the ripening process. The citrus fruits are next in importance to the apple and their culture is being enormously increased. ~ Oranges come first. They offer an excellent source of readil assimilable glucose, and for-this reas orange juice is used when there & necessity for quickly assimilable carbo- hydrate which will throw the leas: burden omr the digestive organs. Th- orange contains both vitamins A and B.” | | Although Henry Ford has been ex- perimenting with the five-day week for come time, his recent decision to in- Crease the personnel of his plant ‘in order to use the machinery six days cach week causes much sbeculation. Scme observers wonder whether he has | abandoned - his original idea that -work- ers could produce as much in five days as they did formerly in the full’ week. Others think he simply intends to get the maximum out of machinery without wearing out the man. There is some | skepticism as to the general adoption of the five-day week in American in- | dustry, partly because of the problem of using the leisure provided to the| | advantage of the individual. On the latter point the Baltimore Sun suggests that “to be released from drudgery is an advantage in itself to| the individual, but neither he nor the| public will be helped in the long run unless he is able to discover a satisfy- ing way of improving his freedom. One would like to believe,” the Sun adds, “this couid be easily done. but observa- tion of cotemporary popular recreations and amusements does not give too' much ground for indulging the hope.” * Kk Kk A similar point is made by the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, with the state- ment that Mr. Ford “would far better have waited until Americans have been educated to make better use of the leisure time already at their disposal before increasing that leisure.’ ‘The history of reduced hours of labor is mentioned by that paper, with the com- : “It has been only a few vears since the late Judge Gary thought it would be ruinous to abolish the 12-hour day in some depariments of the steel | industry. Now, of course, the eight- hour day is working out very satisfac- toriiy. But there is a limit to all such matters.” Economic_effects of leisure are dis- cussed by the Hartford Time: “The five-day week Is likely to lengthen the week end. This means not only an in- 1 crease in the consumption of gas and oil but it fosters trade in a dozen dif- ferent lines, So a certain section of industry has come to argue nerease the leisure of the great mass of people, giving them more time and opportuni.y for svending money, and their increased purchases will speed up trade and in- dustry and promote the general pros- perity. * * * Thus, strangsly enough, it is seriously proposed to capitalize idleness as a motive power to accelerate the turning of the wheels of industry.” | Ford’s New Short Week Scheme Subject of Much Speculatiov unemployment.” The Terre Haute St.: recalls that at the time it was an- rounced new workers were to be em- ployed at the Ford plant it was re- ported that “several 4housand stood in the snow all night in_ order to make sure their applications would be among the first, submitted.” The Star adds as to the labor situation: “How great these numbers of unemployed factory and office workers are is largely a mat- ter of guesswork. The biggest obstacle to a definite analysis of the situation is the lack of complete statistics on which any discussion may be based. * * * One of the real jobs which could he performed by the new national admin- istration would be the overhauling of the employment statistical service, in order to present a ‘genuinely compre- hensive , picture of the situation from month o month.” * K Kk The increase in number of employes is referred to by the Long Beach Press- Telegram as lustrative of the ten- dency of the tim: and that paper continue: In his annual review of domestic and foreign trade Dr. Julius Klein of the Department of Commerce states that unemployment has been re- |duced and that wages continue at a high level Viewing foreign trade as a fac- tor, the Press-Telegram declares: “The United States is in preferred position in many respects, but to reap the full benefits of its mass production and its | strategic location it must make per- sistent bid for commercial favor. That the five-day week “is on trial” is the contention of the New Orleans Item-Tribune, which continues: “We believe it will prove an economic suc- cess under the Ford management. How successful it might be with institutions elsewhere, not managed by Ford and his executives, we canrot say. Ford does not launch one of his ‘erratic ex- periments’ until the thing is appor- ently beyond the exporimental stage. The public sees and hears of thes~ schemes with no knowledge of the past experience and the accumulated data which make them secm to him to be firm ground for safe procedur The Asheville Times thinks “the plan may be expected to succeed,” add- ing, however: “But it does not follow that all business enterprises can follow the example. Mr. Ford has probably the mos’. completely standardized fac- tory in the world. The material and the time for doing each separate task can there be fixed to a mathematical nicety. But the ficld of complete stand- I T “With an extra day each week,” suggests the Rock Island Argus, “pro- duction costs will be reduced through the use of the plant on the extra day. ‘The company’s purpose, then, is to em- ploy another day’s personnel and gain another day’s production without dis- turbing the policy of giving each man two days of leisure a week.” The St. Louis Times finds also that “it is the conviction of the great car builder that while more than five days' work a week may tire the back of a man it cannot do the same thing to a machine.” The Times views Mr. Ford as one W] “in some spots a sentimentalisf “in business an inspired idealist. It is pointed out by the Columbus Ohio State Journal that “the American Federation of Labor is pledged to the principle of ghe five-day week, not only as a meens of giving workers more time off but _as a means of relievin gl = ardization is limited.” “Plenty of obstacles to this plan ex- ist,” in the opinion of the Elmira Star- Gazette, “but it is notable that the scheme is not roceived with the bitter comments that met his minimum wage plan. Some time ago Ford said that he believed a man cculd do about as much work in five days as he could in six, but apparently he has revised his opine fon on that point.” ———— Tt Already Ts. Frem the San Antonio Evening News. ' advice concerning his cabinet, it wi available quickly. s “"/be oot With Far More Casualties. From the New Castle News. 3 ‘Three-iourths of our explosives ore used in mining operations, we read; and add, and the other fourth in el