Evening Star Newspaper, April 9, 1929, Page 8

| THE EVENING STAR, < . : ; WASHINGTON, D. ¢, TUBSDAY, APRIL 9, 1929. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS THE EVENING STAR " With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY.........April 9, 1920 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editer The ""“"",?,,‘fi,,f""‘." Company nell 58 SHLTT R At . ghicago Office” Lake Michigan Bulldise. uropean mh lhlrn = by Carrier Within the A enine i R O Collection ma Orders may be sent Main 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Ma Virginia. ily and Sunda 1 ily only . junday only All Other States and Canada. Dally and Sundey..1 yr. $1200: 1 {ly only ... i s A AE $5.00; 1 mo. Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is cxclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dis- Patches credited to it or not otnerwing cred ted in this paper and also the local new published herein. All rights of publication o special dispatches herein are also reserved. —_— The Sinclair Conviction. Although Harry F. Sinclalr is finally adjudged gullty of contempt by the Supreme Court and ordered to jail for three months, the country is bound to look upon the verdict as comprehend- ing vastly more than the oil man’s technical disrespect of Senate preroga- tives. The American people will conclude that the long arm of the Federal law has at last reached out and clutched one of the authors of the foulest scan- dals to stain the pages of cotemporary American history. Though various prop- erties were involved, the Teapot Dome naval reserve gave the oil era at Wash- ington the name by which it will live. It was to the Sinclair interests that Teapot Dome was transferred under circumstances sweepingly condemned by the Supreme Court as saturated with corruption and fraud. The justice now tardily meted out to a principal actor in that orgy of corruption is the first punishment to fall upon any of the cast. By unanimous decision of that same tribunal, Harry F. Sinclair is now held guilty of contempt for refusing to give a committee of Congress information | necessary to a full investigatfon of the devious dealings that placed Teapot Dome in his keeping. Sinclair's plead- ing that the Senate sought to intrude upon his private affairs is pronounced untenable. Mr. Justice Butler, speaking for an undivided bench, effectually rid- dles the contention that a man may withhold, under the cloak of inviola- bility as to his own affairs, facts re- garding public property which be- came his private property under pro- cedure already branded as criminal by the highest tribunal in the Republic. The Sinclair conviction will arouse still other emotions In the breasts of the people. Many of them this day will remember Theodore Roosevelt's lament of a quarter of a century ago that “you cannot convict a million dollars.” The Nation, it must be sadly conceded, was beginning to think that Roosevelt, like Sherman, was “right.” As culprit after culprit in the oil scandals wriggled out of the law’s meshes, through succeeding trials in the Federal courts, American citizens were forced to the conclusion that the possessor of a bank account fat enough to command the services of the most astute counsel could laugh the law to scorn in the United States. ‘That, indeed, seemed to be the situa- tion up to yesterday. Today Roosevelt's aphorism of despair is meaningless. “A million dollars” has been convicted. A hundred million dollars has been found guilty. It had its day in couri—many, many days. It had every advantage, enjoyed every right that limitless wealth, consummate skill at the bar and constitutional guarantees could give it. Now it'is sent to “a common jall” for ninety days, like the most ignoble felon in the land. No one with a trace of sporting blood in his veins will indulge in gloating over the humiliation which now descends upon Harry F. Sinclair. But no Ameri- can with a fiber of civic decency in his make-up can help rejoicing that the mafesty of the law, though it took a painfully long time to bring it about, | has received a majestic vindication. As the final arbiter of our destinies and the paladin of our libertles, the Supreme Court of the Urnited States strikes a blow for the public good that will clang down the materialistic age in which we live, ‘Teapot Dome is avenged. B Einstein is being attacked as irreli- glous. Here is an obvious injustice. In all his calculations, however abstruse, Einstein never once mentioned religion. ‘Washington’s Airport. If unanimity of opinion means any-| thing, Washington will soon be the pos- sessor of & municipal airport second to none in the United States. Hearings now being conducted before the joint congressional committee have disclosed no witness hostile to the establishment of a model airport in the National Cap- ital. On the contrary, every 8 pearing before the committee has waxed enthusiastic and insistent that a field to basis with the District. in the country is in greater municipal air facili “than Washington. Two private fields, small and unsuitable for heavy traffic, and two service fields, one of which is used by sufferance by the New York-Atlanta mail planes, are Washington's total con- tributions to aviation. The fact, how- ever, that Washington at the present. time is without facilities comparable to other citles of its size does not mean that its citizens are not as air-minded as those of other sections. The private companies do a rushing sight-seeing business, On one day last week one concern alone carried more than four hundred passengers aloft to view the beauties of the National Capital from the air. Likewise, fast passenger service is daily run between here and New York, and the activities in aviation in all lines is constantly increasing. With a fleld capable of taking care of the heavy traffic that is assuredly coming-in the future—in fact, it will come almost instanitly with the estab- lishment of an adequate airport—Wash- ington would take its rightful place among cities of the United States. The question has been studied from every angle by committees of experts, The time is ripe for action. It behooves citi- zens of Washington and members of Congress, therefore, to brook no delay in carrying out a plan that is unani- mously indorsed to put the National Capital upon the air map of the country. o on a fifty- No city of Ending the Abattoir Menace. In withdrawing its application for & permit to build an abattoir in Arlington County, just over the bridge from ‘Washington, the N. Auth Provision Co. responded to pressure from a public sentiment that became almost irresist- ible. Once aroused, this sentiment grew in volume and was just beginning to hit its stride when the fight was ended. ‘The merchants who withdrew their application are to be congratu- lated. They apparently had the pub- {1ic officials of Arlington County with them. ‘Their application probably would have been approved and the slaughter house could have been built, despite the storm of protest. But in dropping the project the merchants have won friends instead of enemies and they have done their part, through this negative action, to save the Na- tion's Capital and its immediate en- virons from the danger of encroach- ment by undesirable forms of industry. The fight over the abattoir brought into the open and placed in opposition two distinct elements of the Washing- ton and nearby-Washington commu- nity. One element could see nothing ob- jectionable in the erection of an abattoir. In fact, everything was in its favor. Rules and regulations of the Department of Agriculture were cited in an attempt to show that the one thing Washington needed, from an esthetic as well as a practical stand- point, was an up-to-date abattoir. De- scriptions of the Natlon's leading abattoirs were made available, and they led one to believe that nothing so up- lifts the moral tone of a community, improves the atmosphere, safeguards the lives of children and makes for happiness and health among the grown folks, as & modern slaughter house. ‘Word pictures were painted of long trains of contented cows, fraternizing with happy sheep and delighted pigs, rumbling through the peaceful coun- tryside of Virginia on their way to a sanitary abattoir, looking forward to the pleasing prospect of being butch- ered in the shadow of the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown. And last, but not least, the erection. of an abat- toir would bring the money with it that hustling industry brings. But there was another element. It was composed, according to the an- nouncement from the provision mer- chants, of “residents of Arlington County, Virginia, civic associations and other citizens of the District of Co- lumbia, the National Park and Plan- ning Commission, the Fine Arts Com- mission and other public officials,” and, the announcement might have added, an embattled group of women who or- ganized committees and, from the ris- ing of the sun to the setting thereof, called on those interested in the abat- toir project and told them they did not want a slaughter house s0 near Wash- ington. . The strength and the preparedness of this element, its ability to organize | and to say its say, is & healthy indica- tion that the future of Washington is adequately safeguarded. A new civic consciousness has come into being. There should be fewer mistakes, hence- forth, in the development of the Cap- ital. Good for the abattoir! It served a purpose after all! A man of eighty-two years, feeble in health, Hindenburg still remains the German hope of a truly republican form of government. 3 —— e Tammany in Turmoil. Former Gov. Alfred E. Bmith of New York, late candidate for President of the United States, is just now in & delicate position respecting the reorgan- ization of Tammany Hall occasioned by the resignation of Leader Olvany. When the big chief threw things into con- fusion recently by “handing in his papers,” there was a scurrying about provide for the needs of the District is imperative, and with but few exceptions witnesses have agreed that Gravelly " Point, permitting an airport for both seaplanes and landplanes, is the logical site. Such a consensus, first for the’ airport and then for a definite loca- tion, augurs well for the future devel- opment of a field for the air-minded National Capital. of district leaders, agitated by the thought that some one of them might become his successor. Mayor Walker, with a renomination and.campaign for re-election in prospect, at first took part in the proceedings in & manner that Indicated & disposition, or at least a de- sire, to dictate the selection. But a three- cornered rivairy arose among the lead- ers and it became obviously inadvisable for the mayor to take any hand in reaching a decision. Finally at a meet- ing of the executive committee of Tam- many after Surrogate Foley had posi- tively declined to sacrifice himself by taking the leadership, which he could have had for a nod of the head, the whole matter was referred to a committee of y| four, consisting of Mr. Smith, Senator Wagner, Surrogate Foley and Mayor Walker, Since then nothing has been done, but a significant gesture is now Now he is about to return to town and the district leaders are holding their breath., No one of them wants to make the least move which may result in the former governor putting him on the list of undesirables in the process of elimi-~ natlon, For it is recognized that he is to cast the deciding vote, Meanwhile the mayor is saying nothing and doing nothing about, the leadership. It is somewhat strange that & Tammany mayor, aspirant for another term, should be so mindful of his step lest he jeopardize his prospects, but Mayor Walker has studied the returns of the election of November 6 and he knows that Tammany did not vote straight | ‘5 one hundred per cent on the presidency. And this spirit of independence on the part of a section of the organization might manifest itself anew, in the mayoralty campaign soon to open. Some day the history of the past few months of Tammany Hall will be writ- ten, and it will prove to be extremely interesting reading. e ‘Washington, D. C., needs airports. This fact is fully recognized even in the face of difficulty in securing such com- paratively simple matters as motor parking facilities and garages. ————————— Questions of social precedence at banquets might find a rough-and-ready solution by issuing seat coupons and turning the entire matter over to the hotel ticket speculators. ——e—- Now that the egg rolling is over, the youngsters who won or lost. will be expected to listen to the wisdom of Wall Street which warns everybody never to gamble. o Arlington County, Va., is not suffi- ciently strong in epicurianism to favor a method of modern food production which will utilize pig, squeal and all. —————————— Baton Rouge, La., in considering im- peachment for a governor indicates a disposition to exchange the red stick for the big stick. oo ‘The mechanical genius that produced the Sunday flivver must be accredited also with having provided the fast-going ambulance. e Rebels in Mexico may feel a certain pride of advancement in rank when they are no longer referred to merely as bandits. e i, War in China is apparently to be regarded not as an occasional outbreak, {but as an institution. o SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON: Self-service Retribution. We've many a generous impulse so warm, To call on the sinners and make 'em reform; And yet the philosophers leave it well known, ‘Worst punishment gomes, if we let 'em alone. ‘The crook is protected when he is in Jall, And morally curbed when he's let out on bail. But the Underworld shoots, sins he’ll atone, As he goes on his way, if we let him alone. For his There's many & moron and many a crank, ‘Who has his own reason grave guidance to thank. ‘Though each may protest with a sor- rowing groan— Oh, where would he be, if you let him alone? Influential Friendliness. “You have always been the friend of the taxpayer.” “Of course, I have,” answered Sena- tor Sorghum. “You can’t expect a tax- payer to follow along your plans to make him pay up and look pleasant, unless he thinks you're a wonderfully good friend of his.” Jud Tunkins says that as a prohibi- tionist, he's always glad when the Springtime climate puts raince ple out of season. Best Bird. ‘The hummingbird draws swiftly nigh. ‘The robin halls the April sky; And yet, in all the April zest, ‘The small Spring chicken looks the best. Costume. “What are you going to wear at the opera?” “A big diamond tiara,” answered Miss Cayenne. “What has that to do with music?” “If I can make them stop and look, T don't care whether they listen or not.” “Small servants assume great man- {ners,” said Hi Ho, the sage of China- town. “The flea imagines he is the master of the dog.” Expectations. ‘We're printing Einstein’s picture still And singinig Fame's refrain, ‘While hoping that, some day, he will Get busy and explain, “Win or lose,” sald Uncle Eben, “de man dat didn’t git into an automobile crash kin claim to have had a lucky day at de races.” e . It Seems Superfluous. Prom the Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch. It is alleged that a who de- siréd to kill another hmn put in ’l’llhTmoomNne liquor. But why gild the y: The Surplus Funds. Prom the Canton Daily News. ' Bricklayers are to back a transatlantic flight, thereby answer! the question as to what bricklayers lg:wmngll their Demand for Grapes Large. Prom the Boston Evening gtm‘e ‘were sel t tone Tt takes o Jot oF therm o help, out the cider in keeping up the country’s vinegar supply. - Pracs il SV Auto Turn-Over Expensive. Prom the Port orth Btar.’ m and Still the uaheep of the motor car, not in’it with the turn- THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL, i of such a Spring as irst genuine one to envelop the National Capital in several years. P Even patients in itals secure some relief by looking out the window at the into leaf. fool the maples—when they begin to bud, spnnih at hand, and not before, no matter how balmy the weather may present itself to impressionable man. The trees feel, in their inscrutable sap, when Nature has finally decreed Bg::xl. and not until then do they set about their business of making leaves. * %k k k 8o, if the evidence of the Norway maples may be belleved, Spring is really here. There may be a setback or two (no season in this latitude would be com- plete without such), but as far as the trees tell us there will be no genuine change for the worse. From now on we will have Spring, ually merging into Summer, bring- ng forth in their due season the beauty of trees, grass, flowers, shrubs, es and other ornamentals. plant the seeds of annuals, in the be- lief that it is too early. The amateur gardener by all means should take ad- vantage of the early ‘Spring, several weeks in advance of last year, and put his seeds into the ground at once, if he has not already done so. There is nothing to be gained by waiting now. In such seasons as that of last year nothing was gained by ‘pre- mature sowinf, as the seeds simply lay dormant_until the ground warmed up. This Spring the earth is warm and mellow, in prime condition to grow things. Step into the yard and see the uedlbe'lin:: ‘:l .t‘l,u sturdy althea ale ready g appear. Minute green things are springing up everywhere in the borders, so small that even an expert scarcely dares classify them as yet. EE T Such warm, rainy days as last Pri- day and Saturday furnish ideal “grow- ing weather” for all things of the vegetable kingdom. H Rosebushes, favorites in a million gardens, sprang into leaf almost over- night, and today are pushing out and up. While a prediction of the first rose is always hazardous, we risk setting the date as of April 20 to 25. Radiance and her sister, Red Radi- ance, will be the first to bloom, if past performances count for anything, and they count for much. One should not wait for rose pests and diseases to appear, but should spray at this time in order to prevent them, if possible. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” -mllu nowhere so well as in the rose beds. ‘There are several sprays on the market which combine contact materi- als to kill aphids (plant lice), poisons to end the careers of chewing insects, and materials to help control fungus dlu‘-nseo, including mildew and black- spo Let no one hesitate, therefore, to | pal THE LAST HOME OF MYSTERY. ;s Alexander The Century must be kept in mind the garden, Bushes on the south side of the house bly will need little af tention other than an early Sprin spraying for aphids, but roses situate 50 that they are shaded half the day by garages in all bility will need fre- quent wettings with spray materials. Mildew especially affects the climb- ers, the white deposits rendering them unsightly even when in flower. The Perkins is particularly noted for this condition, and the only rem- edy—if, indeed, there is a remedy- lm'ayn;c at ;l;eh re"émfu btl)‘rdnu mixture, or finely po sulphur. ‘The {uus. and the altheas, and the hibiscus, and the various spireas, the peony and the iris—these need little, it any, attention in the Springtime, doin, their beautiful best for humanity with- out any pother. ‘What a grower the peony is! From the moment when its red shoots come through the earth to the gigantic blooms on Memorial day, it is one of the marvels of plant growth. ‘The peony grows from nothing to a glant bush in a little over two months, and crowns its endeavors with scores of great blossoms which make even the ]"‘1:;' rose blossom seem small in com- rison. Today the average peony shoots are about half a foot tall, and it is difficult even for the ny enthusiast to com- prehend just how much they will grow in so short a time. Some of these bushes will become 5 feet tall, and as many iIn diameter. And when it is realized that the great blooms will be of exquisite delicacy, without a trace of coarseness, for all their size, the flower lover can only marvel anew at the work of Nature, and resolve not to overlook the miracle just because it is of every- Spring occurrence. ¢ R i Grass is far ahead of its usual sched: ule in the District of Columbia and environs; many lawns are in first-rate condition by this time; those that are laggard are still far in advance of the average season. Every one is interested in the grass, since it it Nature's carpet, and every one knows that a good rug or carpet | does more to make a place beautiful than any other one factor. A city or town without grass around its homes would be unthinkable. Even poor grass is better than none at al Every home owner this season takes an especial interest in his lawns, often spending much time and worry in attempting to force Nature to do her best, when she would do better by being left alone. , It your grass does not do as well as you think it should, the chances are 10 to 1 that you spent too much time watering it last Summer. While the hose is needed in severe drought, when brown spots appear, as a general thing the lawn is better off without its use. Then the roots are forced to “root hog or die,” and by going down deep pro- tect themselves both from the heat of Summer and the cold of Winter. Reg- ular mowing, proper fertilization and some little reseeding—these constitute the necessary lawn measures. Any- thing more is worse than useless—it is harmful. To coddle a lawn is the sure way to ruin it. Recognition of Seen in Award ‘Belated recognition of a great serv- ice,” says the Portland, Oreg., Journ: thus summing up a view expressed by many newspapers of the Distinguished Service Medal award to Newton D. Baker, 10 years after the World War. “To this peace-loving man,” the New York Times records, “fell the immense labor of training the troops and getting them fo the home cantonments and to France. He risked his own life in the trenches, but did it so quietly that the fact was hardly known at home. He supported Gen. Pershing as he himself was supported by the Presi and that was to the utmost. * Con- temporary opinion has assigned him a high position as a public servant.” “He selected Pershing to command the American Expeditionary Forces, and President Wilson agreed the gen- eral should have a free hand and that all his requests were to be honored.” the Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch recalls. “It was the first time the country had gone to war with a commander-in-chief in the field clothed with supreme power and lt’k!,e results proved the policy to be b great task well done, and done, too,” in the opinion of the Scran- ton Times, “without any scandal or attempt by Mr. Baker to win the plaudits of his countrymen. Of course, his work did not escape criticism en- tirely, but much of it was based in the first place upon his reputation as a man of peace, and, recalling what hap- pened and how he performed his task, we can see now that criticisms were entirely uncalled for. When Mr. Baker's task is compared with the handling of our armed forces during the Spanish-American War, the ter- | rible scandal which grew out of that war, the American people can thank God that President Wilson in his judg- ment did select for Secretary of War Newton D. Baker.” * kKR “Belated recognition of a great serv- ice,” is_applauded by the Portland, Oreg., Journal, with the comment: “Whatever may be sald of the War Secretary, he recruited, organized and put into service one of the most formi, dable armies in the history of the world. * ¢ * What is more, the name of Mr. Baker does not rest alone on his war service. There was personal char- acter in public and in private, and there were ideals and accomplishments in civil life that in peace made certain the spiendid caliber and character that )g. er took with him into the war office.” Recalling & speech once made in Jowa by "Secretary Baker, the Des Moines Register quotes him as having said “that he had not only been Secre- tary of War, but Secretary of a war,” end that paper adds: “He might have dering the magnitu task, that he was Secretary of war, Probably no single civilian in all mili- tary history has had the problem Mr. Baker solved successfully of training 4,000,000 men and transporting 2,000,000 of them 1 ds of miles across an ocean to fight triumphantly. And it is because of his skill at that job that he is now recognized as one of our ablest public men.” “Newton D. Baker came into the Wilson cabinet an unknown man” observes the Canton Daily News, “As mayor of Cleveland he had made & good record, but he had no experience in national affairs, . Neither President Wilson nor any one else foresaw the war, or & man of larger experience might have been selected. But Newton proved to be the man for ment looms. one o(bt“l';ewn ml: armies of history. He ent S 0 .p.uMll came out of his administration. He was alwavs held in high regard by Woodrow Wilson, and was one of the sanest leaders throughout that trying others were \losing thei entire emmtrfl. regaydiess of politicel afiliations, will approve the awarding of the Distinguished Service Medal to Newton D. Baker.” his | that | be offered dollars and no hint of | Great Service of Baker Medal “the great story of American participa- tion in the campaign in Europe might never have been written. Certainly under him that story was written—a story unique in the history of the world. In 18 months 2,000,000 men trained to a degree were landed in France with- out tha loss of one. Supplies for them were landed and distributed. Munitions were gathered or manufactured and dispatched 3,000 miles. Others had part—great part—in this remarkable feat, but he typified the whole person- nel and dominated the greater part of the work. “We are glad, all of us” states the Herald of Washington Courthouse, “that this recognition has come, that the clearing away of misunderstanding has occurred during the lifetime of the war-time Secretary. Other leaders in that great conflict, in this and other countries, have died while misunder- standing persisted. History will write Newton D. Baker's name among the great men of the lon and the world, but it is far better, far more satisfactory to us, to write our chapter while we are all here.” “Newton D. Baker is worthy of any honor his countrymen could bestow upon him,” concludes the Petersburg Progress-Index, which recalls that he “had one of the biggest jobs ever com- mitted to an American,” and that he “discharged it in a manner which com- pcxlz’ed the admiration of enemiles and critics.” Exchange of Work Seen Equal to Rest Period BY E. E. FREE, PHD. Giving the office stenographers an hour’s rest each day by sending them out to help nail up boxes in the ship- ping room, while the shipping clerks come in simultaneously to help the bookkeepers make up the books, might be less foolish than it sounds, at least if facts recently uncovered by psychol- ogists of the British Industrial Fatigue Research Board prove to have general application. In a recent report of this board S. Wyatt and J. A. Fraser de- scribe experiments on the effects of changing the kind of work during the day—changes intended to pre- vent the su] damage to health, happiness and efficiency eaused by the extreme monotony of many jobs in a modern factory. That such changes of ;accupmon : !e{re:’h the worker and ncrease efficlency Mr. Wyatt and Mr. T confirm, but they find also that a complete change of occupation, pref- erably from mental work to ph}";ical work or vice versa. Altogether new muscles are thus brought into play, i perhaps even new sections of the brain. To interchange the office force and the workshop force for a part of each day is not likely to be a business possi- bility, but practical increases of output and of efficiency might follow a prac- tice of ng the mental work of a workshop, like shop accounts, to the manual workers in turn and for brief Eerloda instead of hiring a shop eeper to do nothing else. r——— Virtues of Economy, m; the Topeka Daily Capital. wever, little did Calvin suspect when he was um.mfg words in the White House that he would lece for them later. virtues of econ- | | ered a dollar But it illustrates ony. ————re— May Need New Alphabet. From the Detroit Newe. e e see whether the Jearned lulho:z“u“fiht: to hang the vitam! ity ins will need a second Exodus of Legislators. Prom the Chatlotts News, Chances are that if th customs ‘offi is | innumerable secrets of far places and g | along the book route to India, to its the most complete improvement follows | i Jug'. 1899, I signes NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM LG M I'm not going. The weather will be too hot. Besides, too many others will be there to chatter and crowd and push, obscuring and confusing historic spots and works of art, even the landscape it- No, I'm not going on a Summer tour across the sea. My mind ran along about like that. So, instead, I picked a shady spot un- der a company of big trees wherein birds, busy with their housework, chirped softly and companionably, and where the leaves colloguin’ with the wind told distant years. Under these trees I swung a hammock and beside it set an easy chair, for change—like moving out of the blue room into the gray. And thus prepared I set out with Col. Powell very secretest corner at that. Now some go a-traveling to find the end of the rainbow, and some to make warfare against the monstrous wrong- doing of all the rest of the world, and, again, others fare out for change and excitement and possible hazard. And | 50 we come upon them—poets, crusad- ers, adventurers. But Alexander Powell is not of the tribe of any one of these. Something of a poet, to be sure, and a goed deal of an adventurer with, maybe, the stuff | of the crusader in his make-up. But, first and foremost, here is the business man turned world traveler. Efficiency is his first name—his last name, too. Like any other competent man of af- fairs, he knows exactly what he is do- ing, where he is going and why. He knows what he is after and recognizcs it while yet a long way off. This, what- ever it may be, he rounds into portable shape and delivers it without seepage or leakage of any sort. In this spirit of efficient activity he has journeyed the | world over, knowing the.East, from the | C. Balkans to Japan and down to the tip of Africa, “like a book,” as the country | saying runs, A round dozen of volumes on this subject of the East give evidence by their scope and quality of the business | efficiency of Col. Powell in the treat-| ment of that which constitutes his cap-| ital. Rich and important material col- lected and at hand is by many an| author counted about the sum and sub- stance of any book venture. Not by this author, however. The sense of struc- ture is strong in him. His books, all| of them, prove this. The foundation, the walls, the roof in its finish of tower or dome or spire are all here, each con- tributing to the unity of the whole, all sustaining the underlying purpose of | the study itself. But come along with me. Take the chair—or the hammock, if you will. Let's go! Let's be off by the Powell book route for the kingdom of Nepal locked-in land of a thousand mysteries, | of countless strange conceptions of life in its bearing upon human safety and well-being. No? Well, right here is the map, placed just as a map should be. See it, right there, Nepal? A tiny shoe- string kingdom facing the sacred Ganges to the south and hugged in tight to the north by the bear-clasp of the Himalayas. Speaking of the map calls up the pictures, so abundant and 50 admirable in their illumination of landsecape, of native types, of habits and customs, of rights and ceremonies, of gods and men. And don't miss the pie- ture on page 81—the young maharajah, fifl a baby, but, oh, the “high hat” of im, riding in state. Adorable! “The land of a thousand religions and of three million gods, and she wor- ships them all"—Mark Twain speaking in Twainish fashion of India. And re- ligion is the great preoccupation of In- dia, therefore of Nepal itself. Since this is 50 clearly true, religion in one or another of its many aspects strikes at the keynote of Col. Powell's porirayal of the country and sets the starting point of many swift-changing adven- tures up and down this little kingdom, “The Last Home of Mystery ‘The inflexible orders of soclety are set in ancient religious beliefs. The ideas of government rise there as well. The relation of. separate kingdoms, rincipalities and minor units of civil ‘administration to India, as a whole, originate in the dictum of this god or of that one. The divergent attitudes to- ward the overlordship of England are dictated by this deep-seated religious senge. In a word. the collective life of India—civil, military, governmental— has had its rise in the fundamentals of religious belief in this country. There- fore, rites and ceremonies have a large part in this book about Nepal, since these aredsignificant of the daily exist- ence of the people of Nepal, of the whole of India as matter of fact. The book, in passing effect, is of the nature of a pageant wherein gods and men take active part. “Idols and Idy hobnob together much to the disad- vantage of the first—or so it seems to us sitting here under the trees looking on, till we remember that everybody has a right to his own notions of life and creation amd destiny—or ought to have such right. Around this parade of religion that! neglects not the lowliest nor the mean- est moment in any man's life, Col. Powell has bullt the story of Nepal. Trained to Western ways, to Western | ideas of collective living, he has sub-| stantial and useful things to say about | the work of England in India as a whole. In the opening up of Nepal he, by way of this book, continues the sur- vey of England in the Orient. A fair and understanding man of sane ap- praisals that are unvitiated by partisan- ship and half-baked notions about the other side of the world. *“The Last Home of Mystery” is a waywise and discerning book, ~patient with unlike- nesses, far-seeing as to future develop-| ments along the various lines that must soon pry this kingdom of mystery wide open to the great modern annihilators of distance and seclusion. As a.thing| - to see, the book is a captivation of movement and color, of swift change, of astonishing incidents. It is & pano- rama of the daily life of the Orient in one of its most hidden places. A won- derful journey, this, along a new book trail set by this untiring traveler, by this most capable and efficient writer on strange peoples and remote regions. * ® kX HORN BEFORE THE ROUND THE MAST. E. P. A. Basil Lubbock. Dutton & Co. This book was written 30 years ago. Since that time it has been pretty con- stantly in a state of repriht and another edition. Readers wanted it. Despite the years it, so they said, had a lot of the salt of the sea in it yet and they'd BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Did you ever write & letter to Frederic J. Haskin? You can ask him any ques- tion of fact and get the answer in & Here is a it letter. educa- Bonal Men iniroduced.oto"the Lves_of the - ir. the -American newspaper readers. It is a part of that best purpose of a newspaper—service. There is no charge except 2 cents in coin or stamps for return postage. Address Prederic J. Haskin, director, The Evening Star In- formation Bureau, Washington, D. C. Q. Has any one been graduated from & university in the United States who was 75 years old or older?>—M. P." A. The registrar of the University of Kansas at Lawrence informs us that Mr. Frank L. Weaver received the de- gree of bachelor of sclence in civil en- g}neerlnz in June, 1923, at the age of 81. Q. How fast can a camel travel?— A. In a regularly supervised camel race held at Tunis, Africa, on March 6, 1926, one of four racing camels was clocked over a 3 1-8 mile course in 12 minutes, averaging :Epmxmutely 3 minutes 40 seconds to the mile. Q. How are radio waves classified as long and short waves?—G. M. A. Radio waves 200 meters or less are called short waves. Those above 200 meters are long waves. Q. Does the term “A. E. F.” include | the Navy?-—C. W. K. A. The Navy was not included in the | American Expeditionary Forces, i Q. How well is the average person supposed to hear?—H. 8. | A. The usual hearing standard is| ability to distinguish words spoken in a low voice at a distance of 50 feet. Q. What is & bank clearing house?— | G. A. A clearing house is a voluntary association of banks located in the same city joined together to facilitate | the daily exchange of checks, drafts and notes among its members, instead | of separate exchanges being made di- | rcct‘l& by each bank with all other banks. . How much land is included in the national parks and national forests? i . M. H. A, ‘The total area in national parks | is 11,817 square miles. In national| forests, on June 30, 1927, there was a gross area of 183,928,106 acres. cities of the United States in size and volume of business?—J. H. F. A. ‘It is the eighth city in size, and the Baitimore Association of Commerce says that it has bank clearings of $5,260,041,574, manufacturing produc- tion of $700,000,000, and fore! trade of $225,000,000. Q. How much faster do finger nails grow than toe nalls>—P. F. A. The nails of the hands grow at the rate of about 1 millimeter a week, while those of the toes grow a milli- meter in a month. Q. Why did I have to pay a pre- | mium of 10 per cent to exchange United States notes for Canadian money about the year 1870?—C. C. A. The 10 per cent premium paid on American money to which you refer is explained by the fact that the only legal tender money in circulation in the United States in 1870, ie., United States notes, or “legal tender,” as they | were popularly called, was at dis- count in gold of around 10 per cent from 1870 to 1876. No provision for the redemption of these notes in gold had been made in the authorizing act— in fact, no such provision was operative until 1879—henece the notes depreciated in terms of gold to a considerable ex- tent. r. A. B. Hepburn in his vol- ume, History of the Currency in the United States,” states that the aver- age gold value of these notes in the United States in the year 1870 was 87 cents on the dollar, and that this average gold value in the period from 1870 through 1876 ranged between 87 and 90 cents. Q. What is a stream line planes or automobiles?>—P. R. A. It is the fashioning of the ecov- ering of wood or metal about a part of a plane or machine, which will offer less resistance to the air stream. Q. What is the first instance of lumbering being done in the Hudson River Valley?—C. E. A. Henry Hudson sent his ship's car- penter ashore to make his vessel a new forearm, fashioned from one of the trees of the forest. . QA ovmm is the Island of Socorro®— A. The Mexican embassy says that the Island of Socorro is the largest one of the Revillagigedo Archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, near the coast of the state of Colima. It is 10 miles in length and 7 miles in width, its highest point in air Q. How does Baitimore rank among being about 3,600 feet above sea level. BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. It is announced by the Secretary ofl State that the United States has no intention of intervention in the Mexi- can revolt. Nevertheless, orders are | also made public that some 18 airplanes | are concentrated around Naco, Ariz., | with instructions to shoot down any | Mexican plane that invades the United States territory, and the commanding | general has full authority and “orders to take whatever measures he finds nec- | essary” to prevent any more random shooting from Mexico across the border such as has been proving fatal to peace- able Americans on United States soil. Mexican bombs have been found in American territory. “Whatever measures are necessary” is an order sufficiently broad to justify a “hot trail pursuit” clear into Mexico City under some circumstances. The “hot trail pursuit” is a recognized term used in international relations, and it does not mean intervention. It might mean annihilation, in case the culprits do not escape, as did Bandit | Villa after his unprovoked outrage on Columpbus, Ariz, in 1916, when Brig. | Gen. John J. Pershing entered Mexico on the heels of the wily bandit. The bandits escaped, and so further “in- vasion” of Mexico was stopped, but at all times it had been with the approval of the federal Mexican government, as, presumably, any “hot trail” pursuit of the rebels today would be. * kK % There are some Americans so timid and so opposed to the Army and Navy protection of America that they are still reiterating their claims that we should abolish all military defense and rely wholly on arbitration as a “sub- stitute for high explosives and chem- jcal warfare” under all conditions. ‘What arbitral court can deal with reb- els, whom the Government cannot re- strain? A new book appears on the shelves of librarles, entitled “Law or War" and its argument is based upon the notion that wars are always unlawful, trine of neutrality and non-interven- tion the United States have not fol- lowed the lead of other civilized na- tions. They have taken the lead them- selves and have been followed by others.” * k% % Yet, 16 years later, and with no violation of the principles of the Fili- more doctrine, American troops were massed on the Rio Grande with orders to invade Mexico, if Emperor Maximilian was not driven out of that country by the national forces of Juarez. That threatened invasion was based upon our Monroe Doctrine warning Europe to { keep out of this hemisphere with its European colonization plots and con- spiracies to overthrow free republican governments. 1If, now, any nation of Europe should dare undertake to give support to or to interfere in any way with the Mexican struggle, it would become the policy of the United States %0 uphold its Mon- roe Doctrine ind drive out the invaders. But so long as the fight is between two parties, both of whom are Mexicans, they must fight it out, but not at the cost of American lives within American Jurisdiction. Not even to protect American citizens residing in the belligerent territory would this Nation intervene if they took sides in the conflict. They are neu- trals in beMigerent territory and must not take sides. et A ‘We went to war with Mexico in 1849, | That country was in a state of anarchy and under the domination of & usurper without constitutional authority. Texas had geceded from Santa Anna‘s usurped rule and joined -the United States. Santa Anna in invading Texas was in- vading the United States, and our forces drove him out, after his massacre of the men in the Alamo Fort. ‘We went to war with Spain in 1898 because not only had Spain maintained a nuisance of wars at our very gateway for nearly two decades, with inhuman cruelty, but had insulted and attacked even sgainst outlaws and bandits. “Few wars could be begun or con- tinued except on the basis of misunder- | standing and lies. Courts aim to sift evidence carefully and get the truth.| War never d nor do the few men | who make war. So declares the kind lady who writes the book. | The author {illustrates her logic by pointing to & New England city of 13,000 inhabitants and only two policemen, adding, “Probably not 10 per cent of our inhabitants would become bandits end cutthroats, even if they could.” ‘What a tribute to New England char- acter! “Not over 10 per cent” of the fellow citizens of President Coolidge are by inclination cutthroats and ban- dits, so two police are enough. Why any police in such a community? Surely those two cops must be busy with speeders from neighboring towns, and occasionally a Down Easterner will come back from Canada too dizay for even two policemen to guide him around t. gB’:t l:ifl:wn on the Mexican border. the Mexicans are shooting across the in- ternational boundary—that invisible or imaginary line—and their bullets and bombs are killing and wounding Ameri- cans in their American homes. Wha are we going to do if the bullets con- tinue? P A glance at history shows what the United States and also other civilized nations have done in the past to protect themselves from such reckless mur- ers. 1t is obvious to all who have ever read the Mcnroe Doctrine that that' much misunderstood warning to Europe to keep hands off of America has noth like some more of it, if the publishers didn’t mind. And so, here it is again, brand-new and with, moreover, a de- cidedly unique savor upon it. You will agree that at this moment of airships and seaships whose god is speed 1t comes like a new and strange experience to go to sea in four-masted “wind- jammer.” And the whole of the adven- ture is lianded over to the reader alive and dflnflnc. 80 to speak. This is the way of it: “On Wednesday, 12th of d on before the mast on the four-mast barque Royalshire of Glasgow, which had just arrived in "Frisco from Japan, and was busy un loading the first cargo of Japanese coal that had ever left the country.” From is '5'» ubliy-l::roducuontogi {2: story is a o] y account e seaman’s life in “rounding the Horn gd ”me :fl thlflv d.i.‘smfllled l;?lltdh of recort l.\v:ry Here is one right at the r, a boy of 16, was ing whatever to do with our right of self-protection against Mexican bandits or rebels. Nor do we set up any claim of a right to intervene in Mexican do- mestic affairs, nor the affairs of any other nation in this or the other hemi- sphere. We maintain neutrality with great strictness; but, in accord with an agreement of all Pan-American natlons, we refuse recognition to rebels who seek to overthrow by force the constitutional governments of their states. * KKK Just & century ago Secretary of State Van Buren (later President) sent spe- cial instructions to our Ministers in Co- lombia, Mexico and Chile, declaring that they miust maintain strict neutral- ity between belligerents in those re- spective revolution-torn nations. President. Filimore, in a message to “One of the settled principles of this Government is that of non-interference our rights and sunk our ship, the Maine, in the Havana harbor. In both cases we were actuated by self-defense a serving the cause of humanity. * 2% G ‘The pacifist author above referred to twits our Government with the state- ment that in all of our history no na- tion has ever declared war against the United States—all of our wars have been declared by America first. Possibly that may be literally correct. The very expression, “America first,” suggests that it may be true. Great Britain did not start the Bos- ton tea party. Great Britain in 1812 merely stopped our ships in any port they happened to anchor and seized American sailors as alleged British de- serters. In 1849 Santa Anna did not make a speech about recapturing Texas, he merely massacred Americans in the Alamo. In 1898 Spain merely sunk an Ameri- can ship in her harbor, murdering hun- dreds of Americans. She kept on con- centrating and butchering our neigh- bors, the Cubans, as she had done in the whole decade, 1868-69, and recom- menced in the 90s. ‘The Philippine Island war was not begun by a declaration of war by Aguinaldo; the Filipinos merely began shooting at the Americans, who had delivered them from the Spanish yoke Our entrance into the World War was not due to a declaration of war egainst us by the Kaiser; he merely sunk the Lusitania and several other ships bearing American lives and sneered at our power to stop his “sinking ships without trace,” planning to invade America and collect from us enough to reimburse him for the whole expense of his aggressive wars. * kK X ‘We are gullty of “declaring” all our wars. It was President Wilson who was re-elected because he had “kept us out of war” and immediately called on our Congress to declare war, and we proved “nat too proud to fight. we have done all the “de- claring,” our declarations of war have always been for self-defense and civili- zation, In our every war we are the ones who “learned to suffer and be strong.” H. P. H. Browning wrote about the “Old Cove” who shied sticks and stones all passers-by, while he kept singing, “All I axes is, let me alone.” ‘The Old Cove felt quite hurt when the other Old Cove warned him: “Let you alone! That's coming it strong! ‘You've been let aloné a darned sight too long! Of all the sarce that ever I heard! Put l1})&;;'!! that stick! (You may well k ekeered.) Let go that stone! If you once show fight, I'l knock you higher than kite. ‘You must have a lesson to s your of shying them stones