Evening Star Newspaper, May 7, 1929, Page 8

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THE EVENING STAR —_With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY..........May 7, 1089 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .Editor The B ummlwp.c—p-y ivants Ave. e e, London, 1th ev' ork Shibe” g0 Offies: Lake Michigan Rate by Carrier Within the City. ning Star ... 45¢ per month ening and Sunday Star (when ¢ Sundays) .. 80c per month The Evening and Sundsy Siar (when 5 Sunds .65 per month ‘The Sunday Star ..\ Sc per copy Colsection made at the end of each month. Orders may be sent fn by mail o¢ telephone Main 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Dally ard Sunday....1 yr.$1000; 1 mo.. 88¢ Dally only ..........1 yr. $6.00: 1 mo.. 50c Sunday only .. ST $4.00; 1 mo. All Other States and Canada. Dally and Sunday. a. e 1 mo.. Sunday only .. §5.00; 1 mo; 50c Member of the Associated Press. ‘The Associnted Press is exclusively entitled to the urte for republication of all news dis- r not otherwise cred- his paper also the local niews published herein_ All rights of publication of #peclal dispatches herein are also reserved. ——— Grand Jury Recommendations. Instead of confining itself to the emission of those broad generalities 5o | often and so well identified with the | subject, the grand jury, in its recent re- port and recommendations on law en- forcement, laid stress on enforcing the eighteenth amendment. The grand jury, through suggestion, questions the practicability of trying adequately to position to the suspension of national origins. Indeed, a large number of Senators have declared their opposition to the suspension of the clause. A combination of the opponents of national origing suspension and op- ponents of the reapportionment bill might bring about the proposed recess during the month of June and the lat- ter part of May. Talk in the Senate is| long and sometimes continuous. It is difficult to bring the Senate to a vote when there is an appreciable opposition to & measure. And delay has been fatal | to important bills before this session of Congress. ‘To adjourn Congress for & month in the Spring and bring the legisiators back to Washington in the Summer | months Is a course, however, which does | not recommend itself to some of the members. They argue, too, that if Con- gress remains in session the Senate finance committee may find that it can | complete its hearings and report the | tarift bill to the Senate in a much briefer period than & month. In a measure the legislation for which Con- gress was called into special session is emergency legislation. Prompt passage of a farm bill which the Chief Execu- | tive can approve is an essential if the American farmers are to benefit this year by the aid thus given. Scarcely less important to the farmer is the tarift legislation, which is to be designed to give the farmer added protection. There 1s every reason, therefore, that the tariff should be disposed of as promptly as possible, too. A long recess of the Con- gress decidedly is not calculated to speed up the tariff bill. On the other hand, it might have the effect of ham- enforce prohibition here through the |stringing other legislaticn. efforts of eleven Federal enforcement officers and the thirty-five members of the Metropolitan police force detailed to help them. The question becomes more pertinent when one considers the fact that the eleven Federal officers spend most of their time in the five counties of Maryland and one in Vir- ginia coming within their juricdiction, | 4hd that the entire Metropolitan police Labor and Politics. It is a safe prediction that Ameri- can labor, certainly in so far as it is represented by its national organization, will not respond to the appeals for financial support which have just been | made by the British Labor party. | Through the executive committee of the | force could, through the passage of leg- | American Socialist party, the British . islation, become enforcement officers, | have asked for funds to help Mr. Ram- Congress has never passed a local | S8y MacDonald and his cohorts regain enforcement act. While the police | power at this month's parliamentary force, as a whole, is supposed to enforce | elections in the United Kingdom. the provisions of the old Sheppard act,| Not because the British Labor party most of those provisions have been nul- | stands for what it does—the establish- lified, or superseded, by the Volstead | ment of the “socialist commonwealth”— and subsequent enforcement acts, and | is the formal backing of organized the courts have so held. Strictly speak- | American labor likely to be withheld. ing, the District is without an enforce- | The labor movement in this country, as ment act, which explains the deputizing | typified by the American Federation of by the prohibition commissioner of | Labor, is definitely committed to non- those thirty-five members of the Metro- | political activities. In 1924 the rallroad politan force who spend their time now | brotherhoods, which are not affiliated enforcing the eighteenth amendment. | with the federation, aocorded their Previous to the grand jury's report on | powerful support to the La Follette the subject there has been occasional | third-party ticket, but many authori-| agitation in favor of empowering the | ties have ever since that episode been | superintendent of police to deputize | convinced that organized labor in Lth{‘ members of the force as Federal en- | country is through with partisan poli- forcemnt officers, or in favor of passing | tics. an enforcement act for the District.| Under the leadsrship of men like the | But nothing has ever come of this|late Samuel Gompers and his astute agitation. successor, William Creen, the federa- A policeman on the beat, cognizant | tion has pursued the policy of leaving of open infraction of the law, can make , it to individual trades unionists to mark | an arrest. The same right applies, in | their ballots as they please. Organized theory at least, to & private citizen. mihmmfiltmmh' But the work of tracing violations, of | reward its friends and vote against its | obtaining evidence upon which to base | foes, irrespective of their party labels, | warrants for search and seizure, falls | whether Republican or Democratic. upon members of the so-called liquor | Labor’s politics in the United States, in squad. They, in turn, have made much | other words, is non-partisan and bi- use of the notoriously unreliable and | partisan. There is no “labor vote” to be deficlent police informers, who are dis- | “delivered” en bloc to this or that party. credited in the eyes of the community | Even the “vofe” pf “locals” in ap town almost from the start. or county election is not an entity upon ‘The Metropolitan force, thus handi- | which party managers can ever bank. capped in lack of personnel, faces an-| The political program of the Inde- other handicap in the lack of suitable | pendent Labor party in Great Britain equipment adequately to cope with the | doubtless commands the interest of lawless element. Its automobiles, | American labor, even though the lat- for the most part, are creaky in their | ter's dollars will not be contributed to Joints and wheeze when forced to exert | Mr. MacDonald’s campaign chest. The themselves. Conservative wing remains in firm con- As long as & Federal statute for Pro- | ¢ro] of the British party, now the sec- hibition enforcement remains on the ond strongest in the House of Com- books, the spectacle of a police force | ;mong Jts leaders are consclous that ima Federal territory unable to enforce | nia41e_class Britain is not rij ipe for joy- 4 through lack of proper authority re- | ugeg 1oty radical Utoplanism, so the mains as a peculiar paradox, hard for anybody to understand. ——— GPflmltlve methods of transportation survive regardless of new inventions. The wheelbarrow is necessary in spite of the motor. The gas balloon, once valued only as a feature at a county fair, becomes an object of especlal study 11 aeronautics, regardless of the marvel- ©ous progress made by aviation. fully sets forth that the Socialist mil- lennium is to be attained “step by step,” with the consent “only of the majority,” and “with due regard to the special needs and varying circumstances of dif- ferent occupations.” The party prom- ises to readjust taxation, make in- creased provision for housing, health, education and pensions, reorganize the control of the Bank of England and € place the import of meats in the hands A Congressional Recess. of & public corporation. ? Talk of a recess of Congress during| There is nothing alarming in such a practically the entire month of June, platform. It contains many & plank to increases in the halls of the Capitol. | Which the American working classes ‘The plan, which meets with approval in | would subscribe without hesitation. But certain quarters, looks to a vacation for | the essentfal thing is that in our coun- the Senators and Representatives while | try labor is content to work for its eco- the SBenate finance committee struggles nomic and political salvation through ‘with the tariff bill, existing parties, without setting itself Such a plan on its face is fair enough. | up &8s & political organization under its At the close of June, however, comes | 0Wn exclusive label. July 1, and on that date the “national origins” clause of the immigration law| Dollar bills will soon be made smaller. goes into effect. Action by Congress| It is cheerful to know that the pur- suspending the operation of the national | chasing power of a dollar bill is not to origins clause has been recommended | be measured by its superficial area. by the President, and is supported by a - s 4t Cungran. Thees o Pontig qusiabes: Hiniog: other legislation, which has beer recom. | With Walter Johnson on the sick list . again and with the Washington base ball mended by the President, which in the | team floundering around through the past has been highly controversial and West i bl it et its e which still has its strong opponents— | m” ':fln ";ry ‘m: ebm 22 t n"; the bill for the reapportionment of the | #* MR He 0T TR0 SRROCT House in accordance with the census 5 soon to be taken. A recess at the time | :‘f'lz.:;ka:flm oulibgi iRy Abe: Sox ‘men at the present time, the House passes the tariff bill might|, sliver lining has already made its well result in delaying action on these n the ¢t youn( measures in the Senate. And as it I8 | aoyor 11, it o planned to bring up the tariff bill upon the reassembling of the Congress after the suggested recess, the delay might be decidedly indefinite. Congress, after it has disposed of the tariff bill, perhaps in Midsummer, will be inclined to fold its tents and vanish from the Capital. The farm-relief bill, which has been passed by the House, may come to & vote before the close of the present week in the Senate. The tariff bill, it 1s sald, will come from the ways and means committee of the House by the first of next week if not earlier. The farm bill will go to conference as soon as it has been put through the Senate. ‘While the conferees are working on the farm bill and the House is dealing with the tariff the Senate is expected to tackle | the combined reapportionment and cen- sus bill, already reported to that body from the committee on commerce. It Adolph Liska, the recruit from Min- neapolis, who made his graceful debut in big league company this year. For this young submarine artist has made one of the most auspicious beginnings of any rookie who ever attempted to make the big league grade. On the opening day he was called upon to face the slugging Mackmen while they were in the midst of a batting rampage. For four innings he held them hitless, His next appearance was against the New York Yankees for three and one-third innings. Two hits and one run was all the haughty Hugmen could get off his underhand shoots. In Boston he | started and finished his own game. The | Red Sox gathered six hits and two runs. Day before yesterday he faced the Cleve- land team and although holding them to two hits for the entire game he was | beaten, one to nothing. So, in the twenty-three and one-third innings that | i | | | has been suggested, too, that national origins might have its day in the Sen- ate at that time. But that is an idle - suggestion. - Theresis.a.determined op~, pitching . feat; reminiscent .of the daya. this twenty-two-year-old lad has worked the opposition has scored but four runs and corralled but ten hits, a or ' wen.THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON. D. C, TUESDAY, MAY '7, 1929. when the team’s present manager, Wal- ter Johnson, was in his prime. i Before the season opened the devel- opment of one more pitcher was con- | ceded to be necessary to the success of | the club. The team was strong offen- | sively and defensively, and was capable of playing smart base ball. Liska is the |answer to Washington's imperative need in the box, but coincident with his arrival the club has fallen off both in hitting and in fielding. This con- dition cannot last forever. With the league’s leading batter patrolling left field and with hitting strength scat- tered throughout the line-up the club’s puny attack will soon develop into & well directed bombardment. In fielding and base running the team rates with the best ant errors which are now oc- curring at inopportune moments will be replaced by smooth bits of ball han- dling. And with the known quality of the four regular pitchers, Hadley, Brax- ton, Marberry and Jones, the team will not continue much longer at its pres- ent gait, particularly with Ad Liska | ready and anxious to go and undis- mayed by the fact that his sterling ef- forts have so far resulted in failure. So cheer up, you fans, better things are on Washington's base ball horizonl ———— Sinclair Goes to Jail. Harry Sinclair, one of the richest if not the richest man who ever went to jail, was accompanied by a chauffeur and a lawyer and a big limousine last night to the black iron doors that have sealed the fate, shattered the hope and cut off with a metallic clang the life of many a man. The chauffeur and the lawyer and the big limousine left him when he stepped inside. But they will be walting for him when he comes out again. His sentence to jail does not fall upon him as a curtain, shutting off the past or obscuring the future. His stay in jail is merely an interlude. One of the most prominent figures in @ national scandal, he does not go to jafl as a convicted criminal. He goes because he guessed wrong. The words of the trial judge come back now with the ring of prophecy fulfilled. Counsel was explaining to the court that his client had merely followed his advice in refusing to answer questions put to him by the Senators. Yes, said the judge, and many & man is in the graveyard today who followed the advice of his physician, and many a man is in jail today who followed the advice of his counsel. In the eyes of the public Sinclair has never been a hero. One could not see him as an Horatius at the bridge. He defied the Senate—but on advice of counsel. The manner in which he ac- cepts his fate presents him with an op- portunity, one of the few he has ever had, perhaps, to shine in the eyes of his countrymen. His countrymen love a good sport. They overlook many things if one only proves himself a good sport. Sulking in his cell, Sinclair will emerge to the taunts and the jeers of his coun- trymen. Bearing his cross like & man, draining his cup and swallowing the dregs without complaint, Harry Sin- clair will step from the jail re-estab- lished, as near as he can ever hope to be, in the estimation of Americans. The depth of his mortification depends upon himself alone—without advice of coun- sel. ——aee } It is declared that youth needs dis- cipline. ‘The educator who can enforce discipline as well as a foot ball coach would be & valuable intellectual adjunct to civilization. D — ‘The world is interested in Lindbergh's marriage. As an expert aviator, he can have his public observing the entire sky as the scene of a wedding celebration. ———— In order to dispose of the question of social precedence at a party it may occasionally be deemed necessary to decide that there shall be no party, ———— Various travelers are now demanding & special guarantee from baggage MacDonald-8nowden platform care- | manufacturers to secure non-leakage in | once more,” according to the Indianap- trunks. ———————— Children are now beginning to com- plain that home might be happier if parents would stay home at nigh! ———— Kansas used to be famous for torna- does. It is now apparently deserted even by the whirlwind orator. Convictions of eminent men in affairs may lead to a movement for more and better jails. —oor—t SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. A General Suggestion. ‘The breezes singing low Out where the lilacs grow, An earnest tone assume Amid the languorous bloom. ‘The schoolboy hears a call ‘That greets us one and all, ‘Who tire of duty stern— “I move that we adjourn.” ‘The bird who sweetly trills Out in the wooded hills; The wave whose rhythmic beat Tells stories strangely sweet; ‘The rustling leaf that sways Beneath the warmer rays, Each murmurs, in its turn, “I move that we adjourn.” ‘Whimsical Activity. The sunshine as its way it takes Fair fruits and flowers may disclose, And then, sometimes, it merely makes A freckle on a lady's nose. The Same Tune. No matter who the man may be ‘Whom people celebrate, The brass band sounds with wonted glee And doesn't hesitate. And though each year may bring a cheer For still another name, The tune that rises loud and clear Is pretty much the same. It's “See the Conquering Hero Comss!"” ‘There is no thought of gloom, Amid the din of horns and drums For those who must make room. We move with far too swift a pace For aught but victory's shout. ‘There is no tune to fit the case ©Of heroes down and out. Practical Politics. ‘The man who would advancegent win Apologies must ne'er begin, But meet all questioning with disdain THIS AND THAT i BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. “About this time he made one other effort to emancipate himself from the dgery of authorship.” So James Boswell writes in his life of Samuel Johnson, and he leaves the reader to use his own judgment as to whether the art of writing is a sort of gery or not. ‘There are perhaps few writers of any degree who do not find actual composition & drudgery in a scnse. The latest and one of the most interesting instances in the long line of English letters is that of the petite and debo- nair Anita Loos, whose “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” was an outstanding success several years ago. Miss Loos says that she is tired of writing and won't do it again, just as Marion Talley has announced that she has given up opera and will retire to the farm. ‘Whatever faith may be put in such announcements, they show a normal feeling toward actual composition. It is probable that no one ever actually liked it of itself an4 for itself. Men through the ages have tried all sorts of ways o. writing from cuiting out letters in stone and impressing them on brick ‘They have wriiten in lenghand with pen and peneil, they use typewriters and dictate to sccre but there is aiways a hidden sorrow in_ the cup which no one kncws but him who | writes. In the first place, writing is not ex- actly like any other work in the world. It takes more out of you, in a sense, than any other, and does not tend to revivify, as manual labor may do. ‘The most dreaded part of writing, to the great majority of those who write for their living, is the beginning. The start is what takes a large part of the joy out of literary composition. It might seem easy enough to sit down and begin. “All you got to do is start!” But, oh! there's the rub. To begin presupposes that one have some- thing to follow with, that the writer know what he wants to say entirely! Short of which there will linger with him a disinclination to take up work. It will not do to say that the whole course of a composition must be plotted out in advance. A writer, whether of narrative or other forms, seldom has a precise map of everything he is going to say. ‘To have such a plotted course would be to rule out the greatest single aid a writer possesses—that is, the driving power of thought itself to suggest and bulld up as he goes along. Many an author (who perhaps would never confess it afterward) has seen some of his best productions spring up literally from a blank sheet, or several blank sheets of paper. When he sat down with pen or typewriter, as the case was, he had only a vague idea of what he wanted to say. While he was writing, something else was happening. Words, ‘thoughts, whole paragraphs came to him out of a clear sky. He did not know how they came, but they did. Whether what he was doing was destined to be called great, or merely good, Or aver- age made no difference. The phe- nomena in all cases were the same. After a writer “gets going good” it sometimes secems to him that some force or agency outside himself has taken the matter into its hands. It was because ancient writers felt this way that they believed in “inspiration.” Now there is such a thing as inspira- tion, but it doesn't mean a fine poetic frenzy, or the direct intercession of the Creator in one's work. The inspiration which comes to every one who writes, whether so little as an essayette or as much as a great novel, as evanescent a thing as a glittering advertisement or as weighty a matter as a great sermon, is simply the result of the flow and interflow of thought. Memories are stirred, old and new facts combined, so that while the moving hand which writes moves on the sta- tionary mind which is directing it is already on the next page, or mgybe over on the last page, so wonderful is this everyday miracle. 8;H(aw do you do it?” an admirer will ask. “Oh, it just comes to me!” smiles the other. And he is literally truthful, al- though few will believe him. But the | point is that these thoughts come to him because he has prepared himself to receive them. That is one side of the drudgery of authorship. S The actual physical beginning of any | sort of writing is the great dread of | most writers. In news writing, where | the beginning is called the “lead,” it assumes unusual characteristics. All news writers will tell you that once they get a good lead the rest is plain sailing. In other sorts of writings the open- ing paragraphs are not so important, since the working out of the composi- | tion is the main thing. Here the dread | of beginning is none the less operative, | however. There are hundreds of capa- ble writers carrying around in their | heads plots for novels that have not | vet seen the light of day—and maybe | never will. Lazincss? One who knows the “drudgery of au- thorship” will doubt it. The world is all | too ready to hurl the word “lazy.” This | word constitutes an excellent mental | missile to cast at others, but one must be careful that he does not live in a gless house, for it is a stone that flles | both ways. No, the hesitancy of authors, as a class, to begin upon something which calls, is mostly due to an innate regard for their art. Writing is work, and they know it. As the ages have passed the world has demanded more and more writing. It never seems to get enough, because it has never gotten over the old first feeling that words have magic in them. The plethora of writings of all sorts has not taken away the appre- ciation of the people for writers. Even those who have abused writing by crass inability, hoping to make up for lack of basic training by artifice, have not as yet been able to sour the public on writing as a profession and a joy to the world. Some must write magnificently, others less so—there are all gradations of writers and writings—but so long as each one genuinely tries to do his best the world has seemed to find a place for him. ‘The reluctance to begin & new work mostly implies a realization by a writer of his acceptance of the best standards he knows. There never was a writer of any degree who willingly wrote any less capably. than he could. Few writers ever “lay down” on what they pro- duced. They did the best they could. And it was the realization that they must do their best that made them “hate to begin.” We have never seen any sort of writer who didn't long to equal the great writers. They all, big and little, have great standards to live up to. It is the glory of the tribe. There is no writer who is not willing to correct and amend, and very few who do not feel that somehow they ought to have done much better. There is no such thing as a satisfled writer. This feeling, from the highest to the lowliest, is the world's guarantee that it will get its money's worth when it invests in reading. A reader never need feel that he is getting cheated, for he may know for a certainty that each writer has given him the best he has. He need not fear that the writer, ug;agh’:xi on the ‘spon page or on the e rial page, or in a magazine or book, is “holding out on him.” When a writer goes tI h the drudgery of writing, no matter in what form, he has three rewards. The first of these is the joy of creation, without which the drudgery would have over- whelmed the art long ago. The second is what makes the wheels of commerce g0 round, and the third is the contem- plation of his mental craft. Joy, some money and satisfaction—these overbal- ance the drudgery and cause even the most temperamental to sit down and do that most difficult job in the world— begin. Anybody but an after-dinner :pes'ku; can stop, but it takes an artist o start. Higher Standard of Officials Seen in Publicity for Backers A complete departure from political precedents which should raise the standard of Federal office holders is seen by most of the newspapers in President Hoover’s decision to make public the names of persons and or- ganizations indorsing the men or wom- en selected for appointment. “President Hoover has demonstrated olis Star (independent Republican), “his conviction that public office is en- titled to the best ability obtainable, especially for the judiclary. He has sent to the Senate a list of nomina- tions for Federal circuit and district judges, including 8 of 10 selections made by Mr. Coolidge which failed of must be shown to be fitted for the places and those who recommend them must. be willing to do so before the public * * * it is putting into practice what most udents of government theoretically have held to be correct.” The San Antonio Evening News (inde- pendent) believes that “publicity all the way down the line would have a whole- some effect on the Federal patronage system, and thus elevate the standards of official service” That paper also sees the doom of the ‘“practice among many politiclans of publicly supporting one candidate and secretly working for another.” Another angle which is emphasized by the Schenectady Gazette (Independ- ent Democratic) is that “when a polit- confirmation. The President also tool the unprecedented course of making public the names of persons and or- ganizations lndorsltng e_r;elllecum:d for these important places. procedure must seem rank heresy to politicians who have evcx;t rez‘:;det{o Federal judge- ships as opportunities to pay pe: obl?:ltlnm and as so_many places to be filled. * * * Mr. Hoover, too, has discarded office seekers in favor of men bearing the indorsement of the Attor- ney General, of bar associations and distinguished, impartial sponsors. His course should increase _confidence throughout the country in the un- doubted endenvolr to m-l:dec ility count than partisan ser 5 “M’l‘rlmea purpgu to “‘make judicial ap- pointments non-partisan so far as - sible” has the approval of the New York Times (independent), which states thet “it is only fair to say that the nominations thus far made by President Hoover live up to these specifications. In particular,” continues the Times, “did his selection of judges in New York gratify not only the bar associations but the public by the proof which they seemed to furnish of a determination to improve the personnel of the Fed- eral courts in this district. * * * It is bad for the bench to put unfit men and it is also bad for the party that does it. A single case of judicial scandal, involving not only impropriety but gross indiscretion, suspicion of col- lusion and an itcl for personal favors, will do more harm to a party responsible for it in a year than can be undone in a decade.” “Little wonder that the politicians are looking upon the President with some- what surly scowls,” declares the Chat- tanooga News (independent Democratic) as it records the employment of the new policy of yuhllclly for indorsers. “The probiem of patronage,” that paper adds, “has always been the most vexing of presidential duties, perhaps largely be- cause of the pressure so often brought upon the Executive to select unworthy officials—pressure from men secure in the knowledge that the responsibility for a bad appointment was on the President and not on them. * * * ‘The new system does not please the actical politiclans. But we imagine e public will enjoy it very much.” “The appoiating power cannot have personal acquaintance of all the names that are presented,” suggests Rochester Times-Union (independent). “They are often numbered by scores and they are scattered over wide sec- tions of the country. * * ¢ The in- dorsers will now be known. * * * If John Doe and Richard Roe are not competent, honorable, exemplary of- ficials, these gentlemen who recom- mend:g n:’em hsvcel misled tnhnd d;ulved one who depended uj em for re- liable !nlormp:ann." e “A great change is being worked quietly, but it is one df utmost im- portance,” says the Oakland Tribune (Independent ~ Republican), lurthelr comment upon the r Ahat “party: candidates for- vacancies k | ical leader knows his activity in the mat- ter will be veiled in secrecy, he may make every effort to secure an office for & supporter, however unfit the latter may be; but when he knows that it will be broadcast from one end of the country to the other that such and such a poli- tician is interested in the appointment, he will be more careful.” The Fargo Forum (Republican) is also among those who condemned the man ‘“who tells one candidate that he is working hard for him while actually he is in- dorsing some one else. * * * A little pitiless publicity about the indorsers of candidates for the Federal bench,” says the Forum, “should eliminate much of the petty politics, and should make for the exercise of more care in making indorsements.” agreements when it is known in advance that all the cards are going to be placed on the table for every one to examine,” thinks the Roanoke Times (independent Democratic), with the con- clusion that the placing of “the re- sponsibility for unsound appointments where it really belongs, at door of those urging and recommending the appointments, is not only an astute move, but one that appeals to be in the public interest. “The change of custom is interesting as illustrating the fact that President Hoover is following his own plans in administering the affars of Government and is not afraid to establish precedents as well as disregard others long estab- lished,” asserts the Columbus Ohio State Journal (Republican), advising also that “these appointments should not go to the lame ducks because they are lame ducks, or be handed out to supply income to some man who partisan influence.” oo Sees Vindication of U. S. Course in Nicaragua To the Editor of The Star: ‘The Evening Star of May 3 an- nounced under authority of the Asso- clated Press that the Nicaraguan Con- gress had decreed May 4 as a national holiday to commemorate the Stimson- Moncado peace pact, which ended the last revolution and paved the way for free elections under supervision of the United States Marines. Also that it had authorized President Moncado to change the name of the town of Tipi- tapa, where the famous peace pact was signed, to Villa Stimson in recognition of the part played by Henry L. Stim- son, now Secretary of State of the United States, in ending the civil war. This 18 a well deserved rebuke to pacifists and others who have criti- cized the Spanish-American policy of the United States Government. A stronger indorsement of this policy from any quarter could not be given, and coming as it does from Spanish-America itself it disarms all crif 7 -~ CALEB 8. MILLER,—- 14 “There won't be so many trades and | ure has | book, heard myself laugh, right out NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM LG M THE WAY THE WORLD IS GOING. g. G. Wells. Doubleday, Doran & 9. The peak of these studies by Mr. ‘Wells is “Democracy Under Revision.” The others serve as approaches to this high point, either by way of direct evi- dence on the one hand or, on the other, through the indirect testimony of illus- trative fact and significant situation. “Democracy Under Revision” was pri- marily a lecture given in 1927 at the Sorbonne. The substance of the theme, however, with its present wide currency in the field of modern political thought, brings this study straight into imme- diate and general interest. In projec- tion it is quite of a plece with this writ- er’s recognized sincerity and power. In sum: Democracy is equality * ¢ * equality an inherency of the peopie taken together * this collective body is sovereign the vote is its work- ing tool * * ¢ by way of this instru- mentality it, at stated tim<s, names the personnel of its directing board and dic- tates the policies of that going concern, the government. Such, the theory, such the norm of modern democracy. From this standpoint Mr. Wells re- views the institution in its modern con- tent—a quite different invention from the democracy of the ancient world. Such resurvey begins with the birth of democracy in the sixteenth century. The next two centuries wait u{‘ofn the grow- ing ins of this new life—pains of promise and pains of menace in a some- what disconcerting balance of disclosure. ‘The nineteenth century, however, saw the new democracy in its coming of age and in its display of powers thatreached beyond political purposes and plans out into the social order where it took effect in every aspect of the common life. And here we are—looking upon the twentieth century in the full stride of manhood, lusty, confident, arrogant. At this point Mr. Wells asks us to stop a while. A good place, he says, to add the gains of democracy over the old tyrannies and inequities. To take stock, 50 to speak, before the next move—for the next move is on its way. Setting aside the famillar brew of enthusiasm and rhetoric that begins to ferment under mere mention of the word ‘“democracy,” what have we still remaining from an older order that serves to vitiate the good substance of this new political outlook? ‘Wars. We still have wars left over out of old savagery and barbarism. We have poverty and crime and ignorance. We have other evil things, too, but these are enough to account for the confusion into which democracy has fallen—the confusion under which, to- day, it is striving to make headway. With Mr. Wells we are led to look into the insincerity of nations in re- spect to war. These keep up the seem- ingly eternal juggling for position in the way of “preparedness,” open road to warfare itself. Again, as one of three great points calculated to clarify the bewilderments of the present, Mr. ‘Wells argues for a simplified and uni- form monetary system throughout the world as a powerful agency of under- standing, of direct and simple commer- cial intercourse, of co-operations cal- culated to supersede the arbitrary com- ulsions of combat. And, once more, e urges & new and general fronting upon the vital fact that the world is today an economic concern, not & polit- ical theory. It is a huge business, bent upon production and distribution—bent upon food and shelter and education and leisure, upon achievement in the multitudinous arts of peace and happy living. Here are tremendous combina- tions, inherent in the munificence of the natural world coupled with the in- ventive genius of man himself. Here is the world brought together into a neighborhood by the wizardry of doing away with distances. And this must be a peaceful neighborhood. Such, in the rought, is the substance of “Democracy Under Revision.” The other studies contribute to this one by way of the social institutions around us—schools, art in its various forms, an inlook upon certain political experi- ments here and there. In the course of these studies Mr. Wells bears down hard on the quality of our education. Inadequate it is to meet the later de- mands upon it in the substance of the youth coming on. In this particular he mentions the United States in edu- cation. Now when any Britisher men- tions this country we, its people, rarely stop to hear what he has to say. In- stead we bristle. I wonder why. When the Englishman suggests that we, over here, are lacking in culture, W do we grow red and retort, “Well, I hope we have as much as you have!” Why not, in such situation, sit down in quietude to ask ourselves, “Well, have we that rare and beautiful thing called ‘culture’?” “What are the evidences of it, if we have it?” “What is it any- Ways” “If it is lovely and desirable and we have it not, let us strive after it.” How would that go in place of the rages into which we fi ‘when charged with the lack of this? We are young, so we can get this thing, pro- vided we do not spend our time in declaring that we are already steeped in its rare essences, in its gentling in- fluences. However, this is, all in all, a Wells book—a book of sincerity, vision, keenly divining intelligence, & book of direct communication, practical, kindly, witty —just & Wells book to be accepted in gladness and l.rat‘l‘wge.fi THE STAR SPANGLED MANNER. Beverley Nichols. Doubleday, Doran & Co. Like Amos 'n Andy—"Here they are!" —a dozen or more of perfectly good American men and women sitting down, in seeming delight, to have their pic- tures shot by a camera of complete equipment. Beverley Nichols is its other name. “One of the most popular young men in the world” * ¢ * “face and fig- to make a movie hero's fortune” * ¢ * “perfectly attired” * * * “candid, charming, clever boy”—there are more of these dirty digs against this fully | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. ‘This is a special Gepartment devoted | known as “Virginia Bright” grown?— solely to the handling of queries. This S. B. paper puts at your dispisal the services of an extensive organization in Wash- ington to serve you in any capacity that relates to information. free. Failure to make use of it deprives you of benefits to which you are en- titled. Your obligation is only 2 cents in coin or stamps inclosed with your in- quiry for direct reply. Address Evening Star Information ton, D. C. Q. Is as much money spent for| s g, liquor in Russia as it was in the days of the empire?- E. A. The Bureau says ernment collected 511,300,000 rubles in excise duties on vodka, beer and other alcoholic drinks, or 62.9 per cent of the total revenue from excise duties. In 1927-28 the Soviet government col- lected 697,600,000 chervonstz rubles from the same source (that is, about 350,000,000 rubles, in terms of the pre- war ruble), which amounted to 50.3 per cent of the total revenue from ex- cise duties. As regards the production of vodka, 4,636,000 hectoliters were pro- duced in 1913, as against 1,804,000 hec- toliters in 1926-27. The consumption per person in 1927-28 was 40 per cent of what it was in Czarist days.” et Union Information Q. Is it possible to observe the sun drawing water?>—M. R. A. The Weather Bureau says that the sun does not pull water vapor to- ward itself. Water is just evaporated by heat and thus made a portion of the air. In speaking of the sun drawing water, you probably refer to the com- mon phenomenon of seeing rays of light from the sun to the earth, which is merely due to dust particles floating in the air, being made visible when the sun shines between clouds. Q. What is the name of the oldest existing newspaper?>—R. E. K. A. Ti Chan, or the Peking Gazette, the first printed newspaper, is proba- bly the oldest daily in the world. It was first issued in 1340 A. D., and is still an official journal. At present it is a pamphlet of 20-40 pages of coarse pa- per, printed on one side only, having a colored paper cover. Q. Name some of Warner, Baxter’s pictures before his success in “Old s g’ Wife,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Ramona,” “Aloma of the South Seas.” He has been in the movies for 7 years and on the stage 10 years. . Which Presidents died inside the White House?—G. M. A. While other Presidents have died in office, Willlam Henry H n_is the only one whose death occurred within the White House. Q. Where is most of the tobacco n 1913 the Czarist gov-| The | Democrat. Bureau, | within a radiu Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washing- miles of St. L: A. Nine-tenths of the tobacco own in the markets of th: world as Virginia Bright” is grown in North ‘This service is | Carclina. Q. What is the “49th State”?—V. 8. A. The term “49th State” was originated by the St. Louis Globe- It is epplied to an area s of approximately 150 cuis. I have a wistaria vine that is years old and has never bloomed. ‘What treatment should it have?—I. A. A. A wistaria vinc 4 years old that does not bloom needs either a ccmplete trimming, forcing the suckers back to the ground, or the soil around the vine needs some good fertilizer. It may be that your stock is just not the proper variety for the sofl in which it is planted. Conscquently you had better consult the county agent or some florist and use the fertilizer he advises. Q. Please explain the will-o"-the- wisp—H. F. A. The moving light known as “will- o’-the-wisp,” cor “ghost fire,” is known by the technical name of “ignis fatuus.” Its precise source is not known, but due to the fact that it is almcst in- variably seen over swampy places or graveyards, it is generally considered to be a form of phosphureted hydrogen gas which the property of igniting when it comes in contact with dry atmospheric air. The gas be generated by the decomposition of animal matter in a marshy soil. Q. What is the population of Mexi- co?>—W. C. A. It is about 15,000,000, Q. What ships comprise the Mexican navy?—S. S. P. A. The Mexican navy consists of the following: One coast defense vessel, of 3,000 tons, bulit in 1898; one army transport, of 1590 tons: two gunboats, of 1,200 tons each; eight patrol vessels, of 77 tons apiece. % Eov& fast does an alligator grow? A. Alligators grow very slowly and it is estimated that at 15 years of age they are only 2 feet long: therefore, & 12-footer may be reasonabl to be 75 years of age. rate of growth varies with animals in their wild state and those kept in captivity, and it is also governed by the amount as well as the type of food given. Q. When was the first law passed in this eountry that affected immigration? —E. M. W. ‘A. Until 1819 no law was passed in Congress which affected the immigrant. An act then adopted, though applying to all passengers, was in reality a law regulating immigration, because then nearly all passengers were immigrants. BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. “Watchman, what of the night? Is your watch regulated and set? If not, pote the signal which goes out three times a day from the United States Naval Observatory by radio and tele- graph and learn to be on time, to the thousandth part of a second.” Hitch your chronometer to a star! ‘That will be the theme of the next scientific event, the meeting of the American Society of Horology, to open at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning the Science Building. To that meet- ing are invited all chronic procras- tinators, all employes who have to run their last three blocks and get into “office” before the clock strikes nine, when they would lose half a day from their annual vacations as penalty for their oversleeping. All men and wom- en are invited who are indifferent to punctuality in keeping their engage- ments, whether for business or bridge or the opening of a public meeting. It will be especially interesting to note whether the horologists begin their own meetings on the dot—ten of the cl tomorrow morning! Business” men and “horologists” are habitually punctual. * ok ok X ‘What is time? Or what was it before Einstein? Has he not let the clock of the universe run down? Has he not annihilated time and space? Aristotle defined time &s a “multitude of parts of motion.” That explains the “motions” of folks running when they are late. That highbrow, Laplace, gives it more dignity by explaining that “time is the impression which a series of ob- jects leaves upon the memory, and of which we are certain the existence has been successive.” So time is just another Bostonian “state of mind.” The modern notion that “Time is money” is utterly inconsistent with Laplace’s definition. Whet a banker Laplace would have made, if he had undertaken to compute his interest on &n “impression”! When the 30, 60 or 90 days fljt around so fantastically—why, that's only an “impression”—and it's strange how the debtor or the creditor ‘works up a “state of mind” over it. The author of “The Talisman” de- clares that “Time is seen not and felt not; it is but a shadowy name, a succession of breathings measured forth by night with the clank of a bell, by day with a shadow crossing along & dial-stone.” s Ah, without time there is no music; without time there is no life; without time there is no beginning and no end—only monotonous eternity. Time heals griefs, mends sorrows, softens hurts, makes callous tender hearts, emasculates good resolutions, brings buds to bloom and dawns to glory. of Mercury on his ankles. Time, the viator, halts for no man. ‘We push Time from us, and we wish wn man who is looking around these | him back. ggmd States and telling how certain things, and people, look to his Englsih eyes. Quite open are these eyes, narrow- ing to slits now and then when he is trying to make a particularly true rec- ord. So, first of all, Beverley Nichols sees straight. And his words have a way of going along: with that kind of seeing. And, again, they do such good team- work as to deliver both the truth—or as much of the truth as can be told from the outside of the specimen in hand—and its immediate setting. More than this, he has the gift of laughter. Nobody laughs—really laughs, almost nobody. I don’t know why any one on this big earth should laugh, do you? Yet the other night—morning, for it was around 3 o'clock—I, reading this loud, and long, too. That's the way with this Beverley Nichols, yet I'm sure he'd hate to be dubbed “humorist.” To be sure he would and he is not that at all. Only frank. This would be a most interest- ing world if all of us, just for five min. utes, said exactly what we were thinl ing. Clever, too, we would find our- selves. Nichols is clever because he is open—wide open. To get along, he here goes up and down the land, talk- ing about men and women and places and things. Herlem and Palm Beach, Hollyw and Chicago. Abraham Lin- coln, Calvin Coolidge, Andrew Mellon, Otto Kahn, Henry Ford—these indi- cate the selective Tlllll! of the man “One of the most lovely memorials in the world * * * Lincoln must have come to know me quite well. * * * I glanced at him, rather shyly, but he was still look- ing out into space—out through the pillars into the white city that had saved. * * * A last look at Lincoln. One had the feeling that perhaps he had risen from his marble and had stalked out, white, lanky ghost over the hills. But no. He was still there. ® * *I walked away in a trance.” This is the Beverley Nichols who sees Calvin Coolidge, that other Coolidge. This is the one who gives us rich minutes with Mr. Mellon and. Otta. Kahnes The- one- who, meets., W i ‘The ancients measured time in sun- shine by its shadow on a dial-stone. It has been proposed that Washington's 525-foot Monument should be harnessed to a great circular dial-stone with a radius of 400 or 500 feet, as is Cleopatra’s Needle before St. Peter’'s in Rome. On this dial should be inscribed the hours of the day. Yet astronomers mock at the idea that one circumference for the dial would tell the time that goes creep- ing by, in Summer as in Winter. What should be that radius which would catch the tip of shadow of the peak of the Monument when the sun is in April or July, and again in November or December? Or who will “set the sunbeam” which takes longer in its course “around the earth” in certain months than does a starbeam, and longer than the actual clock-time from its crossing our meridian and coming back around the earth to the same meridian—half an hour longer for some trips than for others—that dallying Old Sol! We would have ut as much difficulty in setting our watches by the sundial as did the drunken man who watched the conductor on a street- car ring up his fares on a dial regis- ter and tried to ite his own watch by that dial. No mechanical time measure izes with the va - ing sun, owing to the elliptical orbit of the earth through which it travels 'round the year, and the rakish tilt of the world’s axis—the giddy flapper! So a sundial needs an interpreter the two ladies, famous ladies, lovely Iadies, * * * not understood, deeper—oh, much deeper—that the rest; subtle ol subtle past untangling! It is the boy, Nichols, who quite seriously reports these tragic cases. Well, it is all true —thhl-! a u?.mm' fellow wlho, ‘m.(h his other virtues, possesses a clean lik- for this country. And that will please his otherwise delighted Teaderse . .. to keep it from the accusation of being a liar. Sometimes it is 14 minutes slow, sometimes 22 minutes fast. Clumsy 0ld Sol can’t keep pace with the stars any better than a rookie can march with the veterans! While sailors can get their latitude by observing the sun from the decks of their ships, they can't know their lon- gitude by such observations, without checking them with the chronometers, in | which run with mechanical accuracy, to a fraction of a second, regardless of the time of year. = * It is only about two centuries since the hour had a definite and unvarying length. The ancients had burning candles, sand-glaeses, water-clocks and sundials. In India the water clock, or clepsydra, marks the ghuree and 30 ghurees mark the span from sunrise to sunset, and as that span varies accord- iug to Winter and Summer the ghuree at some seasons is many minutes longer than at other seasons. In Italy, especially in convents, ec- clesiastic time re the day as 15 hours and 6 minutes long, and the night only 8 hours and 54 minutes long; a day hour is 75 minuies long and an hour of the night is only 44 minutes. Surely that arrangement would medden dancing youth, but it would beA‘u:.'fimm Il: l4>|se of h:; somnia. A similar principle prevails Japanese time, but Orientals hire their dancers, and who could imagine a placid Oriental afflicted with insomnia? x % %k The clepsydra, or water clock, was known five centuries before Christ was born, at first showing only ela] time, but later becoming very inge: in measuring not only the time of day, but the month, the age of the moon, etc. Two centuries B.C. an inventor, in Alexandria, made a clepsydra which raised or lowered a small statue which pointed to the months and hours graven on a column. Julius Caesar invaded Britain, 55 B.C, and found the na=- tives using a clepsydra. * * k * A story is recorded in India of & father who selected a bridegroom for his young daughter, and on the mar- riage night he set the bride to watching the clepsydra to note the hour for the wedding. But, toward dawn, she found that the clepsydra had stopped, like our grandfathr’s clock, the hour had gone by and she had missed her wedding. She discovered the cause; a pearl from her trousseau had dropped into the pipe and stopped the flow of water. So the father-in-law-to-be wrote a poem about the lost pearl, which got no rejection slip—"even as you and I"—but became a classic through all the subsequent centuries. Name, “Liliwata”—which is not a play on words, though it does sound like lilywater. Happy, bride-—divorceless forever! * % ok x This column might have been filled with deep lore about the development of horology in the world, and especially in America, but that would not have been fair to the American Horological Society, whose “thunder” should not strike (mixed metaphor though that is) until 10 of the clock tomorrow morning. There are many famous old cathe- dral clocks; there are old London clocks, made by George Graham 200 years ago, inventor of the “escapement" and the “compensating pendulum,” but why anticipate the learned experts who are to discuss them at this meeting? Is it not enough to have lambasted the stumbling sun, without berating the clocks that rouse one at unearthly hours, or the wrist watches no larger than a dime, nor much more valuable from a practical standpoint? They used to run clocks in Paris by pneumatic puffs from a master clock— just as propagandists tried to run the war. Electric clocks, run by throbbing “juice” from a master clock, are fa- miliar to everybody. Inventgs are now working out radio clecks to be operated wirelessly, by one master clock, and even wrist watches will “go” without winding, much as David Harum’s horse would ltlgd (like a wrist watch) with- cut hitching. Perhaps such automatic wrist watches will need special regu- lators, according to the race of the wearer, for how can a watch upon a gesticulating Frenchman keep the same pace as one upon the wrist of a stoical Dutchman? None of us wants to get in Dutch, nor to emulate a leapfrog just to wind a wrist watch. It has been a whopper of s temp- tation to discuss that dfather’s clock which “was too 1 for the shelf,” and even to grow sentimental over “Tick-tock, old clock. what are you saying now?” But both have run down. What is so dead as a clock that does not run? A clepsydra takes a pearl to stop it—and so one has the pearl. But an ugly face will “stop a clock™ and who wants that? A dead clock— stark and breathless—is as useless as a sundial in a rain or a “pacifistic” hourglass lacking “sand.” 2 (Copyright, 1929, by. Paul V. Collins.)

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