Evening Star Newspaper, January 17, 1929, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D6 THURSDAY, JANUARY: 17, 1929.° THE EVENING STAR ‘With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY....January 17, 1920 THEODORE W. NOYES. .., Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company llll:n!ll Office: Tower Build - Buropesa "Omce 14 Repent Sto London. 80c per month Rate by Carrier Within Star__. Rt Eeening Sie s (when ¢ y8) The Evening and f each month. t in by mall or telephone Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland l,ll‘ \;Ixrflfldh. y and Sunday. : 1 mo.. 85¢ only mo. lay only $6.00; 1 mo.. 50c All Other States and Canada. 1w 157 5400 1 ino. 40c 1 yr..$12.00: 1 mo, $1 . sson: 1 ‘Member of the Associated Press. “The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republization of all rews dis- patches credited to it or not otherwise cred- ited in this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of publication of specinl dispatches herein are also reserved. - ——— Prevention vs. Cure of War. The Senate has ratified the multi-| Jateral pact for renunciation of war. It should now proceed without delay to enact the tmportant measure for de- fense against war, which has lain be- fore it for nearly a year. It should pass the bill providing for the con- struction of fifteen cruisers. The Pres- ident has recommended them. The au-| thor of the anti-war pact, Secretary Kellogg, approves them. ‘The Navy needs them. Public sentiment over- whelmingly fagbrs them. The duty of | the Senate i3 plain. It the debate which preceded ratifi- | cation of the anti-war treaty had any outstanding aspect, it was the insist- ence of Senators upon safeguarding the United States’ privilege to resort to arms in self-defense. Had not those in charge of the pact made correspond- ing coneessions, ratification would al- most certainly have been refused. It 1s inconceivable that the Senate, having certified what Senator Borah terms the country’s “inherent right” to make war under provocation, should now withhold the sinews vitally necessary to that end. Senator Swanson of Virginia, rank- ing Democratic member of the naval affairs committee, yesterday initiated formal discussion of the cruiser bill. He rightfully described it as a “very moderate program.” He declared it would inevitably pave the way to wider naval limitation than the Washington treaty of 1922 provides, because that pact leaves auxiliary craft unrestricted. Senator Swanson told his colleagues that construction of the eruisers would serve as an effective “object lesson to Great Britain.” No threat is implied In that obser- | vation. What the Virginian meant was that the proposed expansion of the American fleet would be notice to our British friends, and to all the world, that the United States is prepared and determined remain as strong as— but no than—the next largest navy afloat. Our territorial magnitude, the vastness of our overseas commercial interests, our genera! position as a mighty world. power—all these consid- erations justify, on their face, the prem- ises upon which Senator Swanson ad- vocates the cruiser bill. Arguments like these are couched in saner terms than those voiced on the same day in Washington by speakers Army was the greatest winner of all in that struggle. Now come these present troubles, in- cident to the decadence of the physical and, some aver, the mental vigor of the leader, There are again signs of family differences. But evidently beyond this factor of personality there is a disposi- tion on the part of the high council to effect & change and to prevent the weakening of the Army’s influence and the lessening of its value through quar- rels and factionism. It is difficult to believe that there will be any diminu- tion of the Army's prestige, Whatever course the aged leader, now deposed, may take. The wise counsels that have led this remarkable body of men and women through the decades to its pres- ent high place will surely prevail to effect its reorganization in the spirit of Him in whose name it carries on for the welfare of humanity. —— e A Contribution to National Welfare In his appeal to the Democrats of the country to make good the deficlt of the national committee, amounting to some million and a half of dollars, former Gov. Smith puts the case of the Democracy upon a strictly business basis. His talk over the radio last night, in a Nation-wide hook-up, proved somewhat of a disappointment, inas- much as he stressed chiefly the fiscal aspect of the party's situation. There was no pyrotechnic display. There was no hint regarding future friction as to the party leadership. There was the expected reference to the mag- nitude of the vote cast in November for the Democratic ticket, and attention was called to the fact that the margin of loss had diminished since 1924, ac- cording to a certain way of figuring The burden of Gov. Smith’s talk— his old famillar title must serve for a while despite the fact that he is no longer Governor—is that a party that polls 15,500,000 votes is very much alive and is worth maintaining, and that it must be made solvent. Of course, the | late candidate knows that it is terribly hard to pay for dead horses. He knows, perhaps as well as anybody, that the hardest debt to liquidate is an old cam- paign debt, especially when the cam- paign has been lost. With a gesture that means more, perhaps, than many will be inclined ‘o think, Gov. Smith makes the first con- tribution to the redemption fund. It is not in cash, directly, but it may be said to have a cash value. It con- sists in the royalty rights to his own speeches delivered during the recent campaign. He has been besought by many persons for copies of these ad- dresses, and he believes, doubtless with justification, that there is a large public demand for them. Rather than take profit unto himself, while his party is in a financial hole, he will subscribe his speeches to the fund. They will be printed and sold at the rate of two dollars a copy—that is to say, each subscriber of two dollars or more to the fund will receive a copy of the speeches as a premium. ‘There should be no doubt of the outcome of this appeal. Surely there i of law, took the integrity of their ap- pointees for granted. Court attendants, debauched from their fidelity by the se- ductions of schemers, hid the evidences of fraud and faithlessness. Now there is reformation. A new sys- tem is instituted. The trust company will hereafter serve the court as agent, with no profit to individual and but little direct profit to the institution. ‘This is the better method. The personal receivership has betrayed its trust, and the result is that the courts turn to the impersonal with greater confidence. The greed and craft of one man has brought about a change that greatly strengthens the safeguards against fraud. — et A Martyr of Science. Pew men of our time have been ushered by death into & more secure immortality than Dr. Joseph Gold- berger. With the passing of the con- queror of pellagra at the Naval Hospital this morning the curtain falls on the last act of one of the outstanding dra- matic episodes of science. The services to humanity of this Austrian immi- grant, always undertaken at the risk of his own life, hardly can be overesti- mated. Humanity is advancing along a far- flung battle line. It mans its trenches in a narrow zone of dusk and starlight. Before it is the vast expanse of black darkness which conceals the engmy. From behind the dark there comes a perpetual barrage from the guns of an unseen enemy. We do not know the nature of the creatures we are fighting. ‘They may be dwarfs or giants. The imagination hardly can go astray in endowing them with the most fantastic and terrible forms. Now and then a volunteer creeps into the dark with a flashlight, and some- times he returns with information re- garding the nature and distribution of the foe which enables mankind to push forward its twilight zone a few inches. Often enough he does not return at all, lor comes back so badly wounded that he dies. He risks capture and execu- tion by & merciless enemy, who is with- out conscience or honor. life he has been a volunteer scout in this eternal battle with disease. Once he contracted typhoid fever in his ex- periments. A few years later he fell a victim to yellow fever—the same which a few months ago took the life of the herolc Japanese-American scientist, Noguchi. Then he was captured by the mysterious organisms of dengue fever. Undeterred by all these experiences, he volunteered for service on the pellagra front and performed the most notable exploits of his life. He discovered the cause of this dread disease, which brings not only death, but madness, to thousands of persons scattered over a wide area of the United States. Then he fell a final victim to some mysterious malady in some way asso- clated with pellagra. The forces of the dark have won a notable victory, r———— Valuable gifts to the Metropolitan Museum are so numerous that a great American art impulse among students ready to take advantage of oppor- are 750,000 Democrats in the country who think two dollars’ worth of Gov. Smith's speeches. It Is to be hoped that the deficit will be fully subscribed; that indeed it will be oversubscribed. For, as every commentator on the elec- tion has remarked, the country needs a strong opposition major political party. No party can be strong if it is handicapped by debt. Gov. Smith, who is in effect starting life anew upon his emergence from office, makes there- fore a contribution to the national at the Conference on the Cause and Cure of War. One of them, a distin- guished historian, .scoffed . at -navies, including our own, as “instruments of imperialism.” He assailed them as “mere protectors of foreign investments.” If the United States is ever the ob- Ject of an aggressive war, one of its causes undoubtedly will be our unpre- paredness to avert it. As for “cure of ‘war,” possibly the learned professor just quoted has heard tell of the adage that “prevention is better than cure.” The sage who made that aphorism immortal _ had physical maladies in mind. But it applies with even greater appropri- ateness to national defense. ——tee. Ground hog day is not far distant. Btudents of witchcraft are again won- dering whether he can succeed in bring- ing sunshine by “hexing” the weather. Speeches of Al Smith put into book form will help to remind a public, rather inclined to be forgetful, of what | the shouting was all about, ] The Salvation Army Crisis. ‘The struggle for control of the Sal- vation Army, which has been in evi- dence at London for some time past, reaches a climax in the formal action of the high council in voting, 55 to 8, that Gen. Bramwell Booth is no longer fit fo hold the office of supreme com- mander. Under the organic laws of the | Army this vote suffices’ to effect a change in leadership. Yet Gen. Booth, who is aged and ill, declares that he will resist to the last all efforts to ef- le‘ct his ouster from his office, which was intrusted to him by his father, the | founder of the Army. It will be a pit- eblis spectacle if he persists in this de- termination in the face of so pro- nounced an adverse judgment. “The Salvation Army has become one of the strong world forces for human welfare. It was the vision and the cre- ation of a man of remarkable qualifica- tions, a man of the highest purity of life and the noblest of purposes. His *exceptional abilities held the forces of spiritual regeneration intact when the Army was small and whs assailed by ridicule and even by physical attack. Steadily he won his place and gained the confidence and respect and finally the adoring admiration of the British people. His influence and that of the Army spread overseas and became a factor for the redemption of the dere- lict’ and the hopeless of this country. Far and wide the Army marched and gained the esteem of other lands. ‘When he passed away, in the fullness of many years, Gen. Booth bequeathed the leadership to his son. There had previously been some family difficulties and some breaches were made in the lines of the Army. But the organization ‘withstood these schisms and remained a powerful force for good. During the Great War it was a factor beyond com- putation for the maintenance of the welfare when he foregoes his royalties on his speeches and offers them upon the altar of his party. . It may be necessary to allow a few underworld operators to get by for & while until Commissioner Whalen can solve parking problems in New York's tunity should soon be in evidence. — e Indiana has long held a prominent place in literature. The contention between Col. Stewart and John D. Rockefeller, jr., promises to render it no less notable in finance.: PO SO S ‘To many a reader of the Congressional Record, the term “interpretations” sounds & little like a revival of the old line in the story paper, “to be continued in our next.” e cmee e 1t is assumed that Raskob will remain .in control .of the Democratic party; unless the party should become uncon- trollable. — et SHOOTING STARS. theatrical district. o R Several leaders of the Democracy make clear a positive opinion that there is enough left of the old party to be worth quarreling about. e ‘The marvelous recovery of King George enables science to score a point concerning which there can be little adverse argument. ————— Bankruptcy Receiverships. When a short time ago a New York lawyer who had for some time acted as recelver in bankruptey cases disap- peared and left heavy deficits, both in his bankruptcy charges and in funds intrusted to him by clients for invest- ment, the Federal Court of that juris- diction undertook an inquiry into the general question of receiverships and ascertained that there was an astonish- Ing degree of looseness in the adminis- tration of these responsibilities. The se- lection of receivers in bankruptey, it ap- peared, was a matter of political favor. Attaches of the court were active in promoting the interests of a certain group of attorneys in the distribution of these prizes. Supervision of the ac- counts had become lax. The routine of examination and approval by the court had become so slack as to constitute virtually no check whatever upon pecu- lation and fraud. A grand jury inquiry was started and several indictments were returned quickly, with others in view. Meanwhile the fugitive had passed beyord ken, leaving a great number of wailing cli~ ents, whose money had passed through his pockets, presumably into the hop- pers of the speculative stock market, A Federal Court employe, close associate of the missing man, attempted suicide when about to be questioned by the dis- trict attorney, later giving valuable in- formation regarding the working of the scheme by which receivers in bank- ruptcy were chosen. Yesterday the court made a sweeping reform in the matter, naming one of the larger trust com- panies of New York as receiver in all Federal bankruptcy cases in that juris- diction, thus putting an end to political influences and placing the whole busi- ness, which amounts to many millions annually, upon a surely dependable basis. ‘This affair illustrates the manner in which even the most reliable institu- tions can become debased and corrupt. It is evident that during a long period no particular attention was paid to these matters by the court. Receivers were named in good faith, but without adequate inquiry into character and qualifications. Reports were turned over BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Off the Key. When life seems all a gentle song Harmonious as can be, Some one is sure to come along A-singin’ off the key. ‘The disapproving glances pass Which he must surely see. They do not hinder him, alas, From singin’ off the key! And he who has the real fun, Contented as can be, Often appears to be the one ‘Who warbles off the key. Forward Looking. “How did you happen to lose that last fight?” “I haven't time for ancient history,” said Senator Sorghum. “What interests me now is how I am going to win the next one.” Jud Tunkins says neyer quarrel with a friend. If you must quarrel, brace your nerve and pick an enemy. Snowbird. ‘The world cannot be going wrong ‘Toward somber tearfulness ‘When some brave bird, though slight his song, Chirps on in cheerfulness. ‘We wait the robin’s note so clear; And all the rest of it. The snowbird at this time of year Has all the best of it. No Sleeper. “Did you never hope for a Prince Charming to waken you from your dreams?” “No,” answered Miss Cayenne. “I rather like late suppers and cabarets. I try to be as presentable as possible. But I'm no sleeping beauty.” “He who has no enemies,” sald Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “is one of the unfortunates who cannot excel in anything sufficiently to cause envy.” “Friz!” Jack Frost's a more efficient cop ‘Than any I have met. Our filvver he compelled to stop. It isn't going yet. “If you tells yoh business to every- body,” said Uncle Eben, “it's a sign you ain’ got no business wuf listenin' to.” ——————— Sounds Fishy to Us. From the Philadelphia Record. That man whose wife left him and got a divorce because he went on so many fishing trips can now tell a true story about the big one that got away. —om—s Make It a Never.Stop Flight, Prom the Muncie Morning Star. spirit of the allled forces in the field. |in perfunctory manner and approved inl what this country would applaud is & It bas been said that the Salvation passing. Judges; intent upon questions sustained flight of the “fu.” ] - Such & man was Goldberger. All his | THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Since almost every one is likely to find himself confined to bed with a cold at some time. or other this Winter, and usually when he least looked for it, he would do well to see to it that his stock of reading matter is in good shape. Porgreudlng in bed when one is ill there are two types of stories in par- ticular which merit the suffrages of men. We won't say women, but imagine they like them equally well. These two sorts of stories are, first, de- tective stories, and, second, Dumas stories. As we have dealt with the good points of the very popular detective branch of fiction in the past in this column, we will go on to a considera- tion of the works of Alexandre Dumas for hour-by-hour reading in the sick bed. One will have to be very ill indeed not to be able to read Dumas. The or- dinary type of cold, grip, or even “flu,” permits a vast amount of reading, which is about the only “indoor sport” the patient is able to indulge in. It must be remembered that a cold taken in time saves ten—that is, a day or two spent in bed at the inception of the disease saves 10 days put in there later on if the person so foolish as to try to “tough it out.” This is the natural philosophy of a cold: If one will take to his bed and permit the “res medica- trix Naturae,” or the healing power of Nature, to work unhindered, the chances are that the system will get the jump on the disease, whereas if the harborer of cold germs insists on stay- ing on his feet he must take some of the body's total store of energy for that purpose and thereby divert just so much from the more necessary task of rid- ding the system of the germ invasion. Let no trained medical man call this line of reasoning ‘“nonsense.” Since the medical profession admits that it doesn’t know much about respirational diseases, the opinions of laymen begin to take on aspects almost of authority. o ‘We have our wise layman, then, wisely reposing in his bed. He has a slight fever, but it is nothing much. He en- visions old Mother Nature busying her- self hugely about his case, and the fact that she is back of him gives him great confidence. How shall he pass the hours? Well, lucky is he if he shall have had the foresight to provide himself with any number of the rich, rare and racy narratives of the illustrious Alexandre Dumas. (We use that adjective “racy” merely as a synonym for “speedy.”) He will find that these stories, through their sheer interest, while away the hours as scarcely any other books can do. Even the much-vaunted “new biography” strikes a sick man as bore- some. He wants something that moves along of its own accord. It must not be too great, demanding exceptional in- tellectual application, which would de- feat the purpose of sick-bed reading, but must have a snap, a verve, a push 80 compellfpg that the lazing reader is carried aloWg as by another’s aid. This, it would seem, is the great merit of Alexandre Dumas. His was a genius at once so simple and yet so energetic, so bland and yet so powerful that all his works have tonic properties which cold analysis cannot account for. It does no good to say that other writ- ers are greater, or more skillful, or less melodramatic. We grant all that readily, but it makes no difference. Dumas was a positive well of life: he bubbled over with something of Nature's own very energy. He was nearer to the prim- itive than most writers, he stood closer to the border lines of fact and fancy and knew how to weave them together so deftly that no one, looking at them later, could tell where the one began and the other left off. It is said that even in writing his memoirs, which he did in all solemnity, he could not help embroidering them with the fovial touches of which he was the master, so that truth and fic- tion play an entertaining game of hide- and-seek there as in his straight fic- tion works. No doubt 1t is because he thus blended truth with fiction that his stories make one of their great appeals. Is not that life? 1In this great world in which we all live, and whether we play it on our feet in the marts of trade, or quietly in our beds, do we not find fact and fiction so indis- solubly blended that no wizard, let alone a mere well man or sick man, could tell them apart? And the fact and fiction are further complicated by what has come to be known as “bunk” and “boloney,” so that no man can be sure that he knows either fact or phantasy when he sees it. * Ok K X ‘The great merit of the works of Alexandre Dumas, however, is that they subtly bring to the reader a sense of powerful energy, & sense of the swing of immortal life, which wields the planets, which causes the grain to grow in the fields, and the sick man to get well in his bed. So Dumas acts as an involuntary physician extraordinary at the bedsides of all those who are wise enough to call him in. Behold the good, jovial Dr. Dumas calling on his patient with his woolly, kinky hair flying over his head, his eyes sparkling with life and hope, his medicine satchel filled with the most colorful and fantastic pills and powders, but above all his hearty voice brimming with strange tales of the streets and cafes, or, if that is not enough, of a thrilling narrative, got only that morning by him out of an old chronicle of Froissard, which he chanced to be reading before break- fast! ‘Would monsieur like to hear it, the story about Agenor de Mauleon, who was a knight of the twelfth century in the days when men were indeed men; the story of the brave Mauleon, who lost his right hand in combat, but had it replaced immediately with iron pinchers, so that he came to be known as_Agenor of the Iron Hand? Perhaps monsieur ‘'would rather listen to the enthralling narrative of the handsome Roger and his beautiful Con- stance, a modern story laid in 1708 to 1716, or thereabouts. The two families want to keep them apart. so they tell Roger that Constance is dead. Ah ha, ha, it is only a joke, monsieur! Roger wins her, after all, but not without going through 400 pages of exciting tribulations. A bit melodramatic, yes, especially that portion where our hero sells his bad first wife to a Corsair to get rid of her, but what would you have, monsieur? A patient must have some sort of stimulation, and “Sylvan- dire” will give it to him. I leave it with you, sir, with the compliments of Alexandre Dumas, M. D. King Alexander’s Dictatorship Called Logical Development America with the rest of the world seems to accept the dictatorship of King Alexander in Jugoslavia as a logical de- velopment and, perhaps, the only road to stability in the troubled war-born Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. As the St. Paul Pioneer Press de- scribes the Balkan monarch’s assump- tion of supreme power: “Still another European country has gone in for the dictatorship idea. This time it is Jugo- slavia, stormy petrel of the Balkans, and the novel thing about it is that for once a King is doing the dictating. Mussolini elbowed aside the Itallan King and Rivera in Spain made King Alfonso a flgurehud, * * « But the expiring in- stitution of royalty is showing decided signs of life at Belgrade. There, at the capital of Jugoslavia, King Alexander has suspended the constitution, dis- missed Parliament and made himself the only real strong King still in the busi- ness. Of this action the Waterbury Re- publican says, “The step he took was as radical as could easily be imagined, but it is logical in view of his popularity all over the kingdom and the fact that loyalty to him is about the only thing the three peoples who make it up have in common.” * ok x * Reviewing causes, the Philadelphia Record explains this “act of royal usurpation” as the result “of conditions and forces which had brought Jugo- slavia to the verge of civil war,” noting particularly the stern, implacable defiance of the government at Belgrade by the Croatians since the assassina- tion of their leader, Raditch, last Sum- mer, with their recent ultimatum—-We recognize only two institutions—the people and the King. These alone can save the state.” The irritant in this Balkan govern- mental structure which is an attempt “to unite the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes under one government and in one na- tion, observes the Lexington Leader, was supplied by the Serbs, who from the be- ginning “have assumed to be the prin- cipal element and dominating unit.” As the Newark Evening News views the situation previous to the dictator- ship, “the Serbs have seemed to look upon it as a greater Serbia,” and this per believes that King Alexander in- tends “to be King of all the groups in his kingdom, giving the non-Serbian elements a fairer deal than they re- celved at the hands of the Serb-con- trolled Parliament.” ‘Will he be successful? The Spokane Spokesman-Review asks the question, “How can King Alexander know that he can interpret the true voice of the peo- ple? All tyrants and dictators profess that power of divination,” continues this paper, “but only once in a century or 80 does the world see a ruling genius who really has it.” ‘The future of the tri-headed country, as the editors see it, is still on the lap of the gods, with the world in general amazed at the calmness with which this fundamental change in rule has been made. “The radical change which has been forced upon Jugoslavia has been received with such a remarkable absence of fireworks and warlike fervor that the world is inclined to ask if the Balkans have departed from the trouble-making role which they have so long played,” remarks the New York Sun, as it pre- dicts that if King Alexander succeeds in welding his people into one, “he will be acclaimed as the savior of his kingdom and the benefactor of the Slavic race.” * Kk ok ¥ In the condition of Jugoslavia the Boston Evening Transcript sees “one of the advantages of the monarchical sys- tem of government—even of a constitu- tlonal monarchy,” in that “in times of stress or anarc] an unlimited power may be assumed by the royal head pending the restoration of normal con- ditions.” Conditions have never. been satis- factory in this country created after the World War, according to many newspaper oblervex‘.l ‘The New Bedford Evening Standard Says that the nation has “been so split into blocs the Parllament has been more or less impotent,” and the ‘“government has been incapable of doing anything that might straighten out the tangle and establish & measure of national unity.” The New York Evening Post gives an insight into the difficulties by listing the racial groups whose inherent differ- ences must be reconciled—Serbians, Croatians, Slovenes, Dalmatians, Bos- nians, Montengrins, Herzegovinians and other peoples”—and declares, “No na- tion born of the war has faced such a terrific problem as has Jugoslavia in endeavoring to weld together the di~ vergent elements in ‘l(ts population.” * ok ok K Referring to the constitution that has been set aside, the Philadelphia Eve- ning Bulletin comments: “The constitu- tion makers of 1921 blundered in making Jugoslavia a centralized state and the Croats have since protested energeti- cally against the Serbification of the administration.” The San Antonio Ex- press sees in recent developments some indication that “the kingdom may be reorganized as a federation of three states, under a common sovereign and cabinet,” and believes that “that ar- rangement shoulll satisfy Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, who have found it prac- tically impossible to work together under the centralized system which the 1921 constitution established.” ‘The present drastic remedy of a dic- tatorship, however, the Manchester Union believes, must be only temporary, lasting just long enough for the King to build up a ‘“new political organiza- tion that will lead his people back to constitutional government,” even though, at the moment, according to the Cin- cinnati Times-Star, “one can sympa- thize with the monarch’s exasperation at the futilities of the Skuptchina,” now passing into ancient history. As the Cleveland Plain Dealer says, the old regime failed in “the establishment of a truly unified national consciousness.” That it is of world importance to have the nation unified is the opinion of the Elmira Gazette, which concludes: “The dissolution of Jugoslavia would alter the balance of power in Europe. It would weaken France and strengthen Fascist Italy. The problem is critical, but not beyond solution,” concludes this paper. et Smoke* Nuisance Remedies Sought To the Editor of The Star: Can nothing be done to abate the smoke nuisance which is beginning to make downtown Washington look like another Chicago or Pittsburgh and which is undoubtedly an element in bringing about “flu” conditions? Apartment house owners and mana- gers seem to be the chief offenders and they are extremely short-sighted to burn the wretched grade of soft coal which many of them use under a mis- taken idea of economy. The resulting soot and smudge will cost them far more in the long run in painting, clean- ing and decorating than they save in coal bills, so that they are injuring their own property as well as their neighbors. THERESA RUSSELL. Niagara Power War Renewal Is Expected From the Loutsville Times. The New York Central's alleged elec- trification plan, contemplating use of power from Niagara Falls, follows a recent report that plans were under way between the two governments to make further inroads upon the water of Niagara Falls for power. Under what conditions the New York Central would get the power—whether wholly from current already created— is not stated in the New York dis- patches. But recent rumors and an- nouncements will, no doubt, put new vim into the war which has been for many years waged to prevent the ruin of Niagara. Power companies have had the ef- frontery to propose almost complete destruction of the most profitable scenic asset in Eastern America, paying to New York State $50,000.000 a year in tourist revenue, a generation after the successful, though long and difficult, that | fight to create a public reservation at Niagara. B ) We Have Living Evidence. the Adrian Dally Tel 3 F*Sientists have (raced ‘man_back to a fish. It looks as though they're on the right track at last. Older Children Creep to Cure Spine Troubles BY E. E. FREE, PH. D. Classes of older "children creeping back and forth across the floor like young babies, all at the commands of a gymnasium instructor, is the latest in- stance of the “creeping cure” now being tried out extensively at St. John's Hos- pital at Spandau, Germany, for the treatment of disease of the spine—a method developed by Prof. Rudolf Klapp of Marburg University. The usual treatment for the com- monest kinds of spinal disease in chil- dren is to require the wearing of jackets or braces to hold the bent or twisted spine in its proper position. Fre- quently this requires the unfortunate little patient to lie continually in bed or on a reclining chair. Such complete lack of exercise is bad, Prof. Klapp be- lieves, even for the diseased spine it- self, still more so for the body as a whole. For this reason he has devised his creeping exercises, in which the children, with spinal braces or without them, as each case may require, are encouraged to creep about on their bhands and knees or on all fours, like a running dog. Thus the necessary stiff- ening and stretching of the diseased spine can be combined, he believes, with sufficient exercise for the body in gen- eral and with speclal exercises devised to strengthen just the muscles most needed to support the weakened spine. vt Children Now Taught Spelling on Typewriter From the Atlanta Journal. Handwriting soon will be spoken of gently as one of the lost arts and ex- perts will be needed to decipher the curious script of the early twentieth century if all schools adopt the policy of the Horace Mann School at Colum- bia University, where typewriters have been installed for elementary grades. Already the typewriter has replaced the pen for multifarious uses, though ‘most of us, having learned once to scrawl in longhand, can still produce semi-legible words and sign our names at need. Colored typewriters have crept into the home, and vari-hued machines adorn milady’s desk. These were signals of what was to come. Now the typewriter has appeared in the primary classroom. What does it mean? Is “cat” spelled easier upon a machine than with a yellow pencil? Enthusiastic advocates of the experi- ment say use of the typewriter will sim- plify for youngsters their mastery of the “three R's.”. That result is not obvious. The machines may help with two of them, but arithmetic, we think, will remain for some time a mystery not solvable upon the typewriter. Per- haps adding machines will follow writ- ing machines into the classroom, so that all computation will become for lklme folk a matter of striking the right ey. Educational advantages to one side, this innovation i8 eertain to please the small beneficiaries. Whether you write or not, you get shoals of fun out of striking typewriter keys when you are 6. Imagine a room full of first-graders, all given the signal to go with a shiny new machine in front of each one—a ma- chine that registers a satisfactory stac- cato click with every stroke and rings a sharp bell at the end of the line and makes pleasant black figures upon a field of white which you insert on a smooth roller. Such a machine might or might not spell “cat” like a pencil. That wouldn't, to the operators, greatly matter. A pencil (it has always been M51 grievous fault) will not make much noise. Run to Wrong Goal Blamed on Climate From the Chicago Daily Tribune. It has been suggested that a foot ball center if he found an opportunity to carry the ball might easily get started for the wrong goal line. Most of ‘he time when he is handling the ball he is sending it in the direction it is not intended ultimately to’ go. Whatever happened in the mind of the California boy, he made a famous play in that 69- yard run to his own line with the speed- iest California back in vain pursuit of him. Sympathetic persons are sorry for him and he is probably a tragic holiday figure, but it may be hoped that life still will contain bright moments for him. It may not seem possible now, but there can be hope. That exhausting run lost his game. It allowed Georgia Tech to get the two points it neéded to win. Later in life the boy might have made a fool of himself on the stock market and lost a fine inheritance, he might have ruined himself and his fam- ily in almost any conceivable way and not have found it such a tragedy. Foot ball is life’s most serious adventure. Possibly it is overrated as such, but there is no use in telling youth that. In this case the boy is a fine player. We think in spite of the present gloomy outlook there is a chance that so ex- traordinary a play will come to be re- garded for its true worth, one of the most amazing, comical and enjoyable stunts that the exciting game ever knew, one which enriches its history with a classic example of humor. The boy who contributéd it in the fashion he did with a mighty determination to succeed in doing the worst thing that could possibly be done should earn his own special place in the record. We hope he gets as much fun out of it in a day or two or a month or two as all the other people. It may be attributed to the climate. It couldn't happen elsewhere, but in California all things are possible, par- ticularly in Los Angeles. - Estimate of Census For Chicago Region From the Canton Daily News. Chicago is pushing New York, latest population estimates of the aChicago Regional Planning Association indircaiz, for metropolitan pre-eminence. Chicago itself is expected to begin 1929 with a total of three millions two hundred and sixty thousand inhabitants. “The Chi- cago region,” comprising fifteen coun- ties, “centering about the city,” will have approximately four million nine hundred and thirty thousand popula- tion at the first of the year. The city wiih its immediate environs thus nears the five-million mark. Naturally the association is enterpris- ing in its clalms. New Yorkers wonder it fifteen counties is not an overly gen- erous area to include a “Chicago re- glon.” But the estimate for the city proper checks reasonably with feder- ation census figures. Chicago is grow- ing rapidly, spite of its unsavory repu- tion for gun play and lawlessness. Philadelphia, a long way behind Chi- cago, still hangs onto third place hy hovering about the two-million mark. The automobile industry is an impor- tant factor in boosting Detroit into the fourth-place ranking with a figure of one million five hundred thousand. New York is in no danger, of course, of being overtaken or even approached. Including its suburban ‘“region,” it counts an aggregate of approximately ten million souls—just twice as many as the most generous allowance credits to Chicago. But Chicago, as Chi- cagoans and visitors will readily tell you. is not to be sneered at. Only N2w York surpasses it. Any community into which millions of human beings are jammed is bound to be impressive and inspiring as a spectacle, even though one might not care to live in it. ——oe This Borders on Sacrilege. From the Dayton Daily News. Five bombs were found in a church, which is a much safer spot for a bomb than in some crowded place. As If Any One Cared. From the Detroit News. ¥ Before: talki ictures, le use to wonder vh':ttfi actors pl:xax:.he film dramas were saying, in ce cases still do, ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKI! ‘The answers to questions printed here each day are specimens picked from the mass of inquirles handled by our great Information Bureau maintained in Washington, D. C, This valuable service is for the free use of the public. Ask any question of fact you may want to know and you will get an imme- diate reply. Write plainly, inclose 2 cents in coin or stamps for return post- age, and address The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Has- kin, director, Washington, D. C. . Upon what materials are cam- eos cut?>—J. E. O'C. A. Cameos. are carved on precious stone, shell or other material. Onyx and sardonyx are very often used. How many books and pamphlets Q. are there in the Library of Congress? | |ment of a Jewish boy's Bar-Mitse —B. K. A. Printed books and pampfilets now number 3,726,502, of which 2,500,~ 900 have been shelf-listed. How many cigarettes are being 1 Q. smoked all the time in order to con- sume the enormous quantity that made?—T. M. 4 b i b A. It is estim: it 170,000 burne ed or burning cigas are being dis- carded every minute, amounting to 90,000,000,000 a year. Q. Why is Colorado called the “Cene tennial State™?--W. D. A. I! is s0 called because it was ade mitted to the Union in 1875, the cen- tennial anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Q. What are the proper proportions for the star and circle on the wing of & Government Army plane?—L. C. F. A. There is no standard size for the emblem. It varies according to the size of the plane, Q. What is meant by the announce= vah?—A, H. A. It is the announcement of the completion of his thirteenth year, whereupon he is regarded as having ate tained the age of responsibility religious duty. 5 v BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. ‘The Senate having ratified the Kellogg multilateral treaty of peace by a vote of 85 to 1, the report comes immediately that the reiteration of our Monroe Doc- trine, which accompanies the ratifica- tion in an explanatory interpretation, is sure to arouse Latin American opposi- tion to the treaty. Of all the betes noirs in some minds located somewhere south of the Rio Grande, the Monroe Doctrine is the most formidable, because most mis- understood. It is held responsible for all the expansion and development of the United States since the Revolution. Because of the Monroe Doctrine (?) we purchased Florida. The Monroe Doctrine is responsible (?) for our annexation of Texas after that province had revolted from the tyrant of Mexico, Santa Anna, and had appealed to the United States for protection. Because we bade Europe keep hands off, in the warning of the Monroe Doctrine, we acquired California and all the rest of the country won by our Mexican War, The Monroe Doctrine enabled us (?) to conquer Spain in 1898 and so acquire the Philippine lslands (for which we paid many millions of dollars to defeated Spain) and to seize Porto Rico, and by the Platt amend- ment, guaranteeing free and independent republican government of Cuba we must somehow have gained sovereignty over that island, and later when we put a stop to anarchy in Haliti it was (?) the Monroe Doctrine which author- ized us to do so. We have twice withdrawn our po- licing troops from Cuba and have turned Haiti back to the Haitians, but doesn’t everybody know that the Mon- roe Doctrine enables us to go back and enforce order there whenever rebels begin shooting up their government? Look at Panama, where France fell down trying to build the interoceanic canal, and we completed the job at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. We are guilty of paying Panama $10,000,000 for the privilege of building that line of transportation across her mountains, and then agreeing to pay her $250,000 a year in perpetuity; also out of the goodness of our hearts we paid Colombia, from which Panama had seceded long before we entered the situation, $25,000,000 as a consolation sop. * kR ok Just what all those events had to do with President Monroe's announcement in 1823, that never again would Europe be permitted to colonize or swap terri- tory in the Western Hemisphere, under Europe’s theory of the divine right of kings to the earth and all that is therein, and balance of power, remains a mystery. Just as we bought the license to build the Panama Canal, so we paid Nicaragua $3,000,000 for the right to build an interoceanic canal across her territory (incidentally giving her a much-needed connection between her own East and West), and when rebels threatened anarchy there, her lawful government voluntarily appealed to the United States to give her military aid, as well as to protect our own canal interests by insuring stable government. ‘What has Monroe's notice to Eur;)&e to keep hands off of America, North, Central or South, to do with our pro- tection of Nicaragua? No more than the witches of Pennsylvania have to do_with the safety of good citizens in Salem, Mass. The fact is that the objectors to the Monroe Doctrine, who appear so jealous of the power of the United States to defy the now defunct Holy Alliance and to protect all America from European aggression and intrigue, have failed to discover the difference between the Monroe Doctrine warning Europe and hegamony of America, which is only slightly related to the Monroe Doctrine— if related at all. il Within the last decade the Monroe Doctrine was interpreted by the late Secretary of State Robert Lansing when he disillusioned Japan as to its scope in connection with the Lansing-Ishii treaty. Secretary Lansing reported to the Senate at the time the treaty was up for ratification the following “con- versation” with Ambassador Ishii: “Then it was during the same inter- view that we mentioned ‘paramount in- terests,' and he (Ishii) made a refer- ence to the ‘Mrnroe Dictrine’ of the Far East, and I told him that there seemed to be a misconception as to the under- lying principle of the Monroe Doctrine; that it was not an assertion of primary or paramount interest by the United States in its relation to other Ameri- can republics; that its purpose was to prevent foreign powers from interfering with the separate rights of any nation in this hemisphere, and that its whole aim was to preserve to each republic the power of self-development. I said further that so far as aiding in this development the United States claimed no srecial privileges over other coun- tries.” So when Japan actually proclaims a “Monroe Doctrine” for the Orient it will mean that foreign invasion of China must cease and the American open- door policy be enforced: that China, as well as Japan, may maintain her inde- pendence and sovereignty. Why should the United States object to that? We invented the “open door” and have al- ways supported Chinese sovereignty m“ her own country, just as we do Ameri- can sovereignty and independence for all American republics. * oK ok ok Il ‘The hope of the United States is that ' every republic of this hemisphere will proclaim the doctrine as its own, as well as ours. Nevertheless, the Monroe Doctrine is variously interpreted, even by high authority in the United States, as well as in Latin America, although it is not clear upon what historic basis it is confused with hegemony—the right of a nation to declare and maintain | dominant influence for its own protec- tion within a certain sphere where its interests are jeopardized. ~Hegemony | may have been the root of the original der the provisions of the Kellogg multi- lateral treaty, for that trenyo'goes not change either our Monroe Doctrine or our right of self-defense. * K kK The most persistent. opponent of tI multilateral treaty in lggosmne h’l’: been Senator Bingham, formerly pro- fessor in Yale University. Yet his op= position was largely based upon his de= termination that the treaty should be explained as to its relation to the Mon- roe Doctrine. In 1914 Senator Bingham, writing in the Atlantic Monthjy, dis- cussed the doctrine under his heading, “The Monroe Doctrine, an Obso!xe)ge Shibboleth,” and he argued for its abandonment. He declared: 1. “The doctrine was proclaimed under a_ false conception of (a) geo- graphical proximity, for the great cen~ ters of South American life are nearer to Europe than to the United States, and (b) the existence nf natural sym- pathy, which is difficult to encounter in Laztin l:ltr‘leflcl. . n America resents our attitude of being practically sovereign on the gflvx:ti:en;, m’:‘i1 ':gpoeed Oli; war with , _our erence Santo Domingo, ete. AR 3. It places the United States in the false position of being the collector of Europe’s debts, bringing our interven- tion in these states on many false grounds, and thus multiplying the prejudice of Latin America against us. 4. The great growth of some of the South American states in recent years is ignored in the application of the Monroe Doctrine. As Viscount Bryce represents them as saying, “Since there are no longer rain clouds coming up er wel nded, ins an umbrella over us?” e * ok koK In answer to Senator Bingham, more than a decade prior, the words of Presi= dent Roosevelt, in his m.csage to Con- gres;ht’g lflll‘ are cited: s {(Monroe) Doctrine has nothi to do with the commercial reummu&’», any American power, save that it in truth allows each of them to form such as it desires. In other words, it is really a guarantee of the commercial inde- pendence of the Americas. We do not ask under this doctrine for any exclu- sive commercial dealings with any other American state. We do not guarantee any state against punishment, if it mis- conducts itself, provided that punish- ment does not take the form of the ac- quisition of territory by any non-Ameri- can power.” * ok ok X Thereupon, discovering that United States Government did not, its Monroe Doctrine, forbid Europe’s collecting by force her loans or other debts, so long as-no annexation of ter- ritory was included, Drago, the Argen tine minister of foreign affalrs, de- clared against that very opening, and thereby created a “Drago B;cmne" of South America, much more drastic than our Monroe Doctrine in its an- tagonism to Europe. In this “Drago {ihcn'kr\e‘l' it is :on:ll}:led that “collec~ on of loans by tary means im- plies territorial = occupation to make it effective, and territorial occupation signifies the suppression or subordina- tion of the countries on which it Is e Gutcome of e oul e of the Drago Doctrine was a provision adopted by the second Hague Conference, in the Porter Yankee amendment, to the effect that before any resort to arms for collection of a debt there must be obligatory ar- bitration. This stops armed demon- strations at a nation’s port for the col- lection of even private investments of loans. Later another Argentine states- man, Calvo, declared against any armed intervention for debt collection, saying: “To admit the principle of indemnity would be to create an exorbitant and pernicious privilege, essentially favora- ble to strong states and injurious to feebler nations, and to establish an unjustifiable inequality between na- tionals and foreigners.” * ok ok ok There appears no proof that the “umbrella” is not needed to guard against rainstorms from the East, since Great Britain, France and Austria, during our weakness of the Civil War, attempted to seat Maximillan on s Mexican throne, under pretense of col- lecting debt claims. and would have succeeded but for our Monroe Doctrine. We did not undertake to prevent col- lection of the debts, barring armed threats, but we did object to estab- lishment of a monarchy along the Rio Grande. Now, if Latin America protests that Maximilian’s flasco was of the former generation, why over- look Germany’s more recent attempt to seize Venezuela, which was stop by President Roosevelt? And if the less aggressive and defiant Monroe Doctrine is too strong a defense for the Western Hemisphere, how comes it that we hear so little about the Argentine Drago and Calvo doctrines, which go several steps farther? A quarter century is not a long enough period to constitute a fundamental doctrine of national de- fense an “obsolete shibboleth.” * ok ok % It is quite true that South American' capitals may be nearer Europe, geo- graphically, than Washington, but that great international lawyer John Basset§ Moore said in adds Pans American Congress in 1915: i “The idea that America is not simply. a geographical term, but a term repres: senting the unity of interests, has exs isted so long that it may be presumed that it is not a false term, but one thas carries us absolutely and persistently along the right road. The word ‘Amers ica’ since the beginning of the last cen- tury, during the struggle of our neigh~ bors for independence, represented the idea of a community of political inters ests. As Henry Clay sald, ‘We ought to be looked upon as united in the pur- ;:gun;)ets establishing a league of human the, by adoption of the Monroe Doctrine, but the Monroe Doctrine as a specific de- fense may be enforced regardless of our hegemony interests. For example, in 1895 Great Britain undertook to encroach upon the terri- tory of Venezuela and was putting the boundary between that country and British Guiana upon rollers so that it could be pushed westward to suit the; interests of British Guiana. Protests, both by Venex#ela and the United States, were ineffective, until President Cleveland announced that the Monroe e would forth all the force of our Navy to protect the South Ameri- can republic. We set up no claim to control the Venezuela government in our own interest—that would have been hegemony—but we did reaffirm the rtain Monroe Doctrine and backed it with our Navy. So we. ‘. might again, even un- * % ok ¥ So anti-imperialistic is the sentiment of the United States regarding the col- lection of loans or the guaranty of American investments in Latin America that on December 2, 1924, the late Sen~ ator Ladd introduced a bill in the Sen- ate, which was duly passed, prohibiting ng' ! .(l)ovem:;eé:t o‘;flchl from giving official recognition to any arrangement which may commit the United States