Evening Star Newspaper, May 12, 1929, Page 30

2 T THE EVENING STAR|vith a companion, were riding in an! tion to the British stars who have won __With Sunday Morning Edition. __ WASHINGTON, D. C. BUNDAY.........May 12, 1920 THEODORE W. NOYES. . .‘.wm‘{ The E Star N vening e uur-w Company t 4 Michigan Bullding. rent St.. London, Rate |by (!:-rrler Within the City. RS Erenine Daaisany a0 00 month (when 4 Sundays) ...60c per month ‘The Evening and Sunday Star (when 5 Sunda; . Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. . Maryland and Virginia. Dally ard Sunday....1 yr. $10.00; 1 mo., 85¢ Daily only 1 yr. $6.00: 1 mo., Sunday only yT.. $400: 1 mo. 40c All Other States and Canada. Daily and Sunday..l yr, $12.00: 1 mo., $1.00 Daily ooly . 131, 18.00; 1. mo.. i8¢ unday only yr. $5.00; 1 mo. 50c Member of the Associated Press. ‘The Associated Press is exclusivaly entitled to the use for republicatl Ppatches credited to it or d r and also the local ne ited in this paj e s publiched herein. All rights of publication of = pecial dispatches herein are also reserved. Mother's Day. In 1914 President Wilson signed a Joint resolution of Congress setting aside the second Sunday in May as Mother's day and in accordance with the resolution issued a proclamation calling on the Nation fo to observe It. Since then there have been no con- gresstonal joint resolutions and no Presidential proclamations, but the date has come to be generally observed. The observance is due in part to the activ- ities of those interested commercially in secing to it that mothers throughout the land are adequately remembered. and in part to a relatively small group of citizens who have endeavored to at- tach & really significant and senti- mental meaning to the day. A great deal of the to-do over Mother’s day is unworthy of serious thought. The day merely becomes an- other day, no more important than Eat an Apple day. Mother is ungener- ously pictured as sitting in the corner by the fireside, smiling through a tear but brightening at the prospect of a box of candy, a bouquet of flowers cr & long telegram, appropriately worded for the occasion. There is a great deal of sentimental gush unfair to Mother. But part of the day, at least here in ‘Washington, is given over to tributes and a symbolism that are full of mean= ing.’ There i3 no spectacle quite so touching.as the figure of some lonely mother in Arlington with flowers for a grave. And one must go far to find any group more worthy of high honor than the mothers who wear the gold star, ‘and whose memories of -other Mother’s days not so long ago are re- called by the exercises at Arlington. It is unfortunate that commercialism has almost succeeded in destroying the high purpose which led to the original observance of Mother’s day. But it can never take away the dignity and sweet- ness ‘of the name. And as for the Py ool e Having' regulated ‘theater-hour traffic in New ¥York,” Commissioner Whalen might give some helpful’ advice as to the shows which elude the motors and | tions which adhere to the land of the take to the.railroads. e tt—.— Gang Warfare in Chicago. ‘There is nothing of less consequence to the Nation at large than the mur- der; moi mtter how brutal, of three|¥ith the Latin countries which once Chicago gangsters. But the murder is formed the Spanish empire in the West- extent that it writes ern Hemisphere. The exposition was the red history of | cOnCelved as a filial monument to that Chicagols gang, warfare since prohibl- tion, That history, yet unfinished, is & fearsome commentary on the impotence | *67C® Of any political e, the silken of law and order once the underworid | Pond of enduring sentiment yet unites gets the upper hand. From 1920 to 1923 John Torrio, a product of the old Five Points gang of New York, ruled the liquor trafic and commercialized vice of Chicago undis- puted. But the profits were so enormous that his throne was threatened by the Jealousy of his own princelings. One of these, Dion O'Banion, controlling the North Side gang, an offshoot of Torrie's one big gang, grew careless in his talk and threatened the king. One Novem- ber day in 1924 three men entered his florist shop, for as a side line he was a florist and dwelt among flowers. One of the men shook his hand, while an- other pumped -bullets into him and he was killed. The war was under way. In January, 1925, Torrio, descending from his guarded automobile, was filled:| full of slugs from sawed-off shotguns. “Cauterize it!” he cried to the doctors, pointing to his wounds. He knew that gangsters poisoned their bullets. He did not die, but. on his recovery fled. He is| believed to be in Italy today. Hymie Weiss and “Bugs” Moran suc- ceeded O'Banion as leaders of the North Side. In August, 1926, an attempt was made to kill one of their lieutenants. It failed. Alphonso Capone had succeeded Torrio, and in September an attempt ‘was made on his life. In October Weiss, with four companions, got out of an au- tomobile in front cf O'Banion’s old florist shop. A burst of machine-gun fire from a second-story window on the other side of the street greeted them. ‘Weiss fell dead with ten bullets in his body. One of his companions was also killed and the other three wounded. Reprisal followed reprisal. Gangsters, on one side or the other, were shot down. On last St. Valentine’s day seven members of “Bugs” Moran's gang were lined up in a garage and mowed down with machine-gun bullets. With a naivete peculiar to Chicago the police and the newspapers frankly spoke their belief that the massacre was done by members of Capone’s gang. But Capone, fat, greasy, opulent, wearing diamonds and spending his Winters at Miami, boasting that since the war he has “fooled away” some seven million dol- lars, was not even questioned. In answer to wires from the Chicago po- lice requesting his presence, he said he could not stand the rigors of Chicago climate . in Winter. But one of his lleutenants, Albert Anselmi, was in- dicted in connection with the massacre and was free on fifty thousand dollars bond. Fifty thousand dollars is pin money among Chicago gangsters. On Wednesday the bodies of Anselmi and John Scalisi, another of Capone’s lieutenants, were found in the tonneau of & stolen’ automobile, together with hat of another gangster. In June, 1925, Scalisl and Anselmi, 80c | second trial from prison on a charge of modern Spain. country in the world, apart from the closely related Latin republics of Cen- tral and South America, which was in- vited to join with Spain in the Seville Exposition. ment, with the approval of Congress, has erected a splendid American pavilion there and placed in charge of it a rep- resentative commission headed by for- mer Gov. Thomas E. Campbell of | Arizona. tended, like another affair of the same and flowers—why, Mothers likes | lively step, with the march of progress. an effective role in this economic age. King Alfonso and his people pay us, in | time Walter Hagen has won the British automobile. A police car, with four de- tectives, pursued them, merely on sus- picion. The criminals increased their speed to over seventy miles an hour. Their car skidded on the wet pavement, crashed into a telephone pole, and when the police car drew up and the detec- tives jumped out the gangsters greeted | them with a burst of fire from uwed-l off shotguns. Two of the police were killed. One of the gangsters was killed. Scallsl and Anselmi were brought to trial. Cangdom, united, raised a defense fund of a hundred thousand dollars, and after months cf delay the trial was be- 7un. Jurors were threatened. Th2 home I n witness was bombed. Scalisi and 1 were convicted of manslaughter in ccnnection with the death of one of the policemen and sentenced to four- teen years. They were brought to a murder in conncction with tha death of the second policeman. They were acquitted. The Supreme Court of Illi- nois then declared that if the men were guilty of manslaughter their sentence was unjust; if guilty of murder, it was ridiculous. They were brought to trial a third ‘time. This time they were ac- quitted on the plea that they thought the pursuing police were rival gang-| sters. The death of the policemen went | unavenged. Scalisi and Anselmi rose to high rank in Capone's gang, They were known as “torpedoes,” or gunmen. They lived to dle at the hands of other gunmen. And their death will be avenged by other gunmen. The law, apparently blindfolded and with hands tied, watches the grim give | and take. If it meant the self-extinction of gangdom, law and order might smile and let the battle go on. ‘But for every Torrio there is a Capone. For every O’Banion there is a Hymie Weiss. For every Welss there is a “Bugs” Moran. Those who rise to the top may die. But there are plenty more at the bottom. e r—e— The Ibero-American Exposition. At Seville, a day or two ago, King Alfonso XIIT formally opened the long- prepared and eagerly awaited Ibero- American Exposition. It is a pretentious and, according to all advance accounts available, magnificent exhibition of the artistic and industrial impastcnce of As a special mark of estecm for this country, the United States was the only ‘The Washington Govern- ‘The.Ibero-American Exposition is in- general character—the International Exposition at Barcelona, which will swing open its doors this week—to show the world that both the Andalusian and the Catalonian suns nowadays beat down upon a Spain which is keeping ‘Both exhibitions are meant to supply graphic illustration that Spain, like her sister-countries in both hemispheres, ic a twentieth century nation, by no means stripped of the cultural tradi- grandees, but able and anxious to play It is a graceful compliment which linking the United States at Seville glorious past and as an expression of Spain’s confidence that, despite the ab- her to lands and a race which once owed allegiance to Madrid. ‘To the development of that ideal, and to any practical blessings in the way of trade expansion which may flow from it, the United States has no manner of objestion. Ibero-American friendship is a natural fabric. The Se- ville Exposition is designated to strength- en it. The lively desire of the Ameri- can people is that every aspiration which Spain and Latin America pin upon it will be richly realized. —————— Orators are said to have inserted, with confident expectancy, “laughter,” as well as “applause,” in manuscripts of their speeches. The applause re- mains. The sense of humor is not so assertive. ———— Discussion might be simplified if Hindenburg should decide to assert himself as the real President of Ger- many. Walter Hagen’s Victory. Golfing honors in Great Britain go again to an American. For the fourth open champlonship. On wind-swept Scottish golf links Hagen showed a control almost uncanny and turned in a total score for the 72 holes of 292, the third lowest score ever made in a Brit- ish open tournament. Bobby Jones, another American, holds the record with a 291 in 1925 and a 285 in 1927, Not only did an Ameritan win first place in the British open tournament, but of the ten golfers, including Hagen, turning in the lowest scores, eight were from the United States. Hagen's vic- tory marks the eighth win for an Amer- ican in the British open championship during the last nine years. Our British cousins must look to their golfing laurels. Walter Hagen came out of the ruck to win his latest champlonship. It is only a short time ago that the American professional went down before George Duncan, a Britisher, in the Ryder Cup competition, taking a bad beating. In the open tournament Hagen started with a round of 75 and, indeed, the scores of three of his rounds were 75. But, playing marvelous golf, he also turned in a score of 67, giving him a lead which none of the others, including Leo Diegel, who had forged into the lead early in the tournament, was able to overcome. The champion’s putting, according to the cable dispatches, was superb under weather conditions which caused other golfing stars to falter. It was on the greens that Hagen really triumphed. The British open champion, when the cup emblematic of the championship the trophy more often than himself. Harry Vardon has his name on the cup six times and also James Braid has captured the trophy six times. “They are still 2 up on me” was Hagen's comment, “but I am coming back again.” The American gave thc British due praisz for their victory in the Ryder Cup team competition, ad- mitting frankly that the Americans had been well beaten. Hagen'’s success will be a popular one because of the great golf he played under adverse weather conditions and because of his ability to brace and come from behind. In the end his score was six strokes less than his nearest com- petitor, an almost unheard of lead in a British or American open tournament. r—e Arctic Exploration. The Graf Zeppelin is to make three trips over the top of the world next Spring in an international, co-operative polar exploration project. These expeditions will differ in one essential respect from all those which have preceded them into the frozen north. The Arctic fogs no longer veil imagination-stirring mysteries. One after another the possibilities for sen- sational discoveries have been elimi- nated. ‘The North Pole, so long the goal of international competition, is no longer an objective. If the Graf Zeppelin hap- pens to cross this geometrical point at the top of the world, the scientists on board will regard it merely as part of the day's routine. It already has been reached four times. Within the past five years the myth of an undiscovered continent has been exploded thoroughly by McMillan, Byrd, Amundsen and Wilkins. There are only vast ice flelds, broken by occasional small islands between the northern coast of North America and the Pole. The world will no longer be thrilled by fantastic pictures of a lost race dwell- ing In sheltered valleys of the boreal continent. . The Arctic henceforth will be a dreary, prosaic place. What, then, re- mains? Everything, says Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, veteran explorer, who will be in command of the expeditions next Spring. All that has gone before was merely preliminary to the real work which re- mains to be done. Franklin, Frobisher, Davis, Baffin, Ross, Kane, De Long, Hall, Peary, Byrd, Wilkins and the rest were the trail blazers. Their task was to de- stroy the illuslons—to push forward into the roseate mirages and find only the everlasting stretches of ice. They have enabled their successors to study the real problems afforded by the Arctic. This will be the purpose of the expeditions next Spring and, it is likely, of similar expeditions for generations to come. This inhospitable area of the earth’s surface contains factors which affect vitally the rest of the world. More accurate weather forecasting, for in- stance, requires a much more detailed knowledge of meteorological conditions over all of the Arctic Ocean and Green- land. There are numerous other prob- lems which can be solved only with ma- terial bound up in the Arctic ice. Past generations Have prepared the field. The new explorers are going forth to reap the harvest of knowledge. ———————————— There seems to be no real cause far Sinclair to worry about the photogra- phers, who are politely willing to go to Jail without being sent for. ————————— ‘The rum-runner reverts to the days of Capt. Kidd, who defled laws and sacrificed those who served him. ————— The President of Germany is an old man. Any efficiency expert would have pensioned him years ago. . Fogs interfere with aviation. The weather forecast again comes into im- portant significance. ————— A smoke screen is necessarily re- garded as an evidence of evil that seeks ways of darkness. Saape—— ‘The Young plan to regulate indebted- ness is already beginning to look a little old for its age. It might be a relief if questions of social precedence could b referred to a world court. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. New Year in May. Farewell, my dear! Farewell, my dear! ‘You were a generous old year. But once again the robin sings To greet the filmy blossomings. So time will glide with haughty stride ‘To humble all our simple pride, And as the violet® draw near— We say again, “Farewell, my dear!” The wintry day, with bright display— Brought many a moment light and gay— Yet Maytime brings the true New Year, And so we say, “Farewell, my dear!” Relief. “Are you in favor of farm relief?” “I am!” declared Senator Sorghum. “I want to see the day when a farmer can go to a diplomatic dinner with a string necktle and his pants tucked into his boots.” Beauty Contest. In contest she could not succeed A beauty prize to clutch. Her face was beautiful, indeed— Her ankles weren't much. Jud Tunkins says he used to be boss in 2is own house until he went out and bought hisself an alarm clock. The Commercial Life. “He is a lovely dancer!” “His accomplishment causes him to be envied,” sighed Miss Cayenne. “A lovely dancer has no chance of obtain- ing credit at a grocery store.” “He who speaks only the truth,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “must pass many years of his life in silent search.” Severe Discipline. I honor all the exacting laws— Yet I shall feel regret If mother goes to jail because She smokes a cigarette! “I is kind o' gittin' over de ide: said Uncle Eben, “dat de most plous was presented to him, gracefully and.man is de one dat does de loudest shout- with good sportsmanship called atten- in' at a camp meetin’” » HE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, EVERYDAY RELIGION BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D., LL. D, Bishop of A letter from the head of one of the great organizations of women in the country has the following striking sentence: “In my opinion, no other problem that faces the American peo- ple today is of more vital importance than that of religious training in the home.” 1In the course of her sug- gestive letter she rpeaks of the culti- vation of “the sou! of the home.” We believe that the concern felt by this woman is widely shared by many. The pressure of life today, its swift cur- rents, its colorful and well nlgh irre- | sistible appeals end its larga ireedom, | all conspire to make more difficult than ever the consideration cf those things that constitute the foundation of character building. Some one face- tiously observes that we are running about “with our souls in our satchels.” Even those of us who seek to main- tain the old habits of devotional prac- tice and the setting apart of definite times for quiet and reflection are find- ing it difficult to do so. The calls of modern life are so clamorous nndtgnr- sistent that they seem to shut out those quieter voices that can be heard only by the inner ear of the soul. More and more we are being confronted with the question as to the econémy and wisdom of our present course. We are all agreed that education is designed to fit our children for the strenuous battle of life. We are all agreed that the age that lies ahead will make increasing demands upon them. In our better hours we maintain that education without adequate training in those things that contribute to moral character is of little worth. It would be difficult to find a father or mother who would venture fo maintain that the only requisite for fitness is the training of brain and hand. We all be- lieve that religious training of some kind is indispensable and that without it chaos lies ahead. We once depended solely upon the organized agencies of the church for such training; we felt that a brief hour in the Sunday school constituted all that our children needed to give them a right outlook upon life and to fix in them their moral and ethical ideals. We sent our children to the Sunday school for spiritual instruc- tion, as we sent them to the day school for their mental development. That the Washington Sunday school has done much, and must continue to do so, goes without saying, but it is a wholly inadequate preparation for the stern battle of life. Precept and example in the home are | worth more than precept and example in any other place. There are strong men and women today whose religious impulses were born and stimulated at the fanmlly altar. They caught their | first real vision of the meaning of re- {liglon in its relation to life from the lips of hizh-minded, consecrated fathers and mothers. The practice of grace at meat they came to regard as the con- sistent recognition of Him who is the glver of every good and perfect gift. In fine, they came to associate the wholesome things of home life with the deep principles of religion. What they recefved when minds and hearts werr plastic and receptive has become fixed in the more definite convictions that have served to s'rcngthen and stabilize them. in _mesting the exigenci>s and emergencies of their more mature life. Such men and women constitute our greatest esset and security in days of | stress and storm, they are the prepared ones. A godless home, a home that lacks reverence and respect for sacred things, is a menace to the community in which it is placed. No amount of so cailed culture, or prosperity, or refinement of environment can serve as a substitute, far that which develops and enriches character and breeds in our youth the spirit of reverence for things that are holy. We cannot effect moral worth through legal processes. Laws may re- strain, they do not produce moral char- acter. We may trace much of our present dereliction as a people, together with our disrespect for and disregard of laws, to our moral supineness, the direct product of our indifference to the nigh claims of religion. Laws without ideals are inoperative. If we could in- duce parents to recognize more fully their moral obligations to their children we would relieve our legislative bodies of an excess of law making and our courts of their overloaded calendars. The anclent word still holds true, “Bring up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not de- part from it.” Debenture Fight May Reverse Political Situation in House BY WILLIAM HARD.' ‘The export debenture plan of farm relief is at this week end in full course toward more havoc and more laughter. It has already split the Republican party in the Senate and has made the Democrats laugh. It is now about to split the Democratic party in the House of Representatives, and make the Re- publicans laugh. ¥ In the Senate only two Democrats, Ransdell of Louisiana and Wagner of New York, voted against the plan on roll call. Two other Democrats, King of Utah and Walsh of Massachusetts, however, were paired against it. The total, therefore, of objecting Democrats in the whole Senate was four. All the other Democrats in the Senate went along with the plan, including the rank- ing Democratic member of the Senate committee on agriculture, Smith of South Carolina. In the House of Re- presentatives the situation is very con- siderably different. Aswell Opposes Plan. In the House the ranking Democratic member of the committee on agricul- ture is Aswell of Louisiana. He has declared himself against the export debenture plan most emphatically. His statement is of large political im- portance. It is as follows: “I have had no objection to the debenture plan, but I went to Europe and studied it for several months in the countries of Germany and Bel- glum and Sweden and also in Czecho- slovakia. The conditions in those coun- tries are vastly different from condi- tions in the United States. When I left that study I was convinced that the debenture plan will not work in the United States, for the reason that we are so large and have so many commodities and such a large acreage. “It has been abandoned in England completely, and in the little country of Belgium it works on only a few articles. I would never vote for any plan that would bring the farmers of the United States into state of poverty that the farmers are in Czechoslovakia. In my humble judgment I will say that I have no objection to the debenture plan as such. It would apply to two commodi- ties, wheat and cotton, and perhaps to- bacco; but I would have members of this chamber remember that the com- modities of cotton and wheat constitute less than 18 per cent of the products of the United States, and we would have the other products of the United States paying tribute to these commod- ities. The plan would not work in the United States.” Kincheloe Fortifies Stand. ‘These views by Mr. Aswell would seem to indicate that part at least of the Democratic agricultural leadership of the House will start with a strong hos- tility to the export debenture plan as sent over to the House from the Senate. This conclusion is fortified by a simul- taneous statement from Representative Kincheloe of Kentucky, who ranks im- mediately after Mr. Aswell on the Dem- ocratic side of the committee on agri- culture of the House. Mr. Kincheloe has said: “I am going to vote for a bill which will be signed by the President of the United States. I know that a bill with an export debenture provision in it is not going to become a law. I am not fooling myself, and we ought not to fool each other. The President of the United States has been kind enough to consult me twice recently about this legislaticn. In justice to him I want to say that T think he has a sincere desire to bring prosperity to American agricul- ture. T am sure that the bill, without the debenture plan, meets with his ap- proval; and if it becomes a law I think he will exert every effort to make it a workable and helpful measure. “While I am a Democrat, I shall Plny no politics in enacting a measure or American agriculture, but will co- operate in every way I can with the President of the United States to enact the best farm bill possible and, above all, I want to see a farm bill on thy statute book of the United States mm-' in the next few weeks.” ‘These remarks by Mr. Kincheloe and Mr. Aswell together constitute one trend of thought among the Democrats in the House of Representatives. A totally different trend is illustrated by Mr. Garner of Texas, who is the mi- nority floor leader and also ranking Democratic member of the ways and means committee, which deals with tariff legislation. Mr. Garner gives his full support to th> export debenture plan and will rally as much Democratic strength to it as he possibly can. There seems at this moment to be little doubt that he will have considerable success in his effort. His position is one of the most striking interestingness. Garner Open to Conviction. Mr. Garner has been extremely de- voted to effective tariff protection for the products of Texas. In the ways and means committee he has giyen every possible encouragement to wit- nesses who would set forth the benefits which higher tariff would confer upon such products as the tomato. Unlike most of the Democratic advocates of the export debenture, Mr. Garner is open to conviction on the benefits of the tariff and able to belleve that a tariff on an -lec\ntnnl product may do a great deal of good. Most Demo- crats, in arguing for the debenture & n, have asserted that the tariff was effective for agriculture and that ac- cordingly the debenture plan, as a sub- stitute for the tariff, and as an equiv: lent for it, was necessary. Mr. Garner, on the other hand. is a protectionist and a debenturist with apparently equal enthusiasm. With his blessing, the new tariff bill hoists the duty on tomatoes frem one- half of one cent a round to thrée cents a pound—a raise of 500 per cent. That is on “natural” tomatoes. The duty on “prepared” or “preserved” tomatoes is lifted from 15 per cent to 25 per cent ad_valorem. It happens now that we export as well as import tomatoes and other vege- tables in “prepared” and ‘preserved” forms. In 1927, for instance, we ex- ported 8,000,000 pounds of canned vege- tables. Mr. Garner accordingly is out for the tomato conquest of the world. it, he will keep out the West Indies and Bahaman and Mexican tomato by means of the new tariff duty. Next he will lead the American tomato on to fresh or prepared triumphs in foreign party by paying an export bounty on every pound of canned tomatoes that is willing to seek a purchas: abroad. Thus by combining the import tariff system and the export debenture sys- tem, Mr. Garner will cause the Ameri- can tomato to enjoy a monopoly at home and a spreading area of dominance on the tables of the whole foreign world. Program Held Audacious. is one of audacious and veness and will accumu- ‘This program dazzling attracti Contrariwise, late numerous followers. the followers of old-fashioned Demo- cratic doctrine, like Representative Hull of Tennessee, who shrink from all arti- ficial governmental barriers to trade or subsidies to trade, will have great diffi- culty in accommodating themselves to a philosophy which combines the barrier of the tariff and the subsidy of the exhp;n debenture into one stupendous whole. ‘The next consequence at this moment seems likely to be that the export de- benture plan in the House will add a great many columns to deep Democratic debate. (Copyright, 1929.) Clause on Cuba Cigars May Cause Tariff Row BY HARDEN COLFAX. Out of the confusion of tongues which have been shouting for attention since the new tariff bill made its ap- pearance there is heard one note, lit- tle heeded as yet, that promises to at- tract considerable attention before the issue is settled. Far back in the pro- posed measure there is a 16-word sub- section designed to improve relations of comity and commerce with Cuba. This twocline part of the bill would repeal section 2804 of the Revised Statutes under which, since 1866, im- portations of cigars have been restrict- ed to packages of not less than 3,000 cigars each. old law that the United States has no parcel post agreement with the island republic, for the Cubans have come to accept this prohibition as a direct dis- crimination against them, especially since the subject has been brought di- rectly to the attention of Congress on at least five different occasions in the last half dozen through committee hear- i1:gs on bills to effect repeal and through recommendations from the President that such repeal be made by Congress. Displeases on Sugar Rate. { This new tariff bill with one hand | displeases Cuba by proposing & sub- 1 stantial increase in the sugar duty, but | with the other hand extends an offer- ing of good will toward the island through the proposal to repeal this ob- noxious cigar limitation law. Because of the major interest in the question of rates proposed in the new tariff bill, little thus far has been heard of this cigar clause, but it may be as- jsumed without the slightest effort to ‘strelch the imagination that there will be considerable noise over it before long. The fact is that the cigar manu- facturers of the United States are most vigorously opposed to repeal of this an- clent statute and they are backed by ;‘hfdllbol' unions and merchants in that | fleld. | The line of battle over this section of { the tariff bill will find on the side of the Cubans more than a thousand American business firms interested in exporting to the islands by parcel post, pius export assoclation and individual corporations, together with the support of the Post Office Department and the Department of Commerce. Rather im- posing strength will be displayed by some 12,000 domestic cigar manufac- turers, 75,000 cigarmakers, 10,000 job- | bers and 750,000 merchants who retail cigars, Mail Business Feared. | American cigar interests fear that if the old limitation is removed, Cuba will develop a dircct-by-mail business with { American smokers and thereby take away some of their business. The con- MAY 12, 192 It is because of the existence of this|as 9—PART Capital Sidelights BY WILL P. KENNEDY. ‘The legislative proposal made on Fri- day_by Representative James M. Be: of Pennsylvania that the 150th anni- versary of the fcrmulation®of the Con- stitution of the United States should be fittingly celebrated in 1937 éomes most timely when the entire country is Constitution-minded through the National Oratorical Contest efforts of the youth of the land culm'nating in the national finals here on Saturday, May 25, sponsored by tho leading news- papers of the count Repre<entative Beck’s measura pro- vides for erection in the ' National Cepital and in Philadelphia of a per- manent memorial. of that great his- toric event, besides bringing the entire population into close touch with the fathers, their earnest work and lofty aims as they gave us the Constitution as the fcundation stone of our self- government. e This proposal comes most appro- priately from Representative Beck, who is one of the outstanding authorit on the Constitution and has identified himself during 44 years of legal prac- tice with constitutional questions and enforcement. He is perhaps best known for his internationally known, authori- tative work, “The Constitution of the United States.” but he was solicitor general of the United States, has argued more than 100 constitutional questions before the Supreme Court of the United States, and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Soclety and an honorary bencher of Gray's Inn, Eng- land, where he lectured on the Con- stitution. It is men like Representative Beck ‘who keep the youth of today and to- morrow in reverent appreciation of the debt we free Americans owe to the “Founding Fathers."” * x A Tn insurrection-worn Mexico, land of perpetual strife, it is encouraging to find an evidence of good feeling and international friendship developing among the children, as reported by the United States Children’s Bureau. As a gift from the school children of Mex- ico there will come next Fall to each of our States an interesting box of curios. Each box will contain samples of Mexican arts and crafts, a phono- graph_record in English and Spanish of a Mexican popular song, & collec- tion of typical photographs and speci- mens of the handiwork of the school children. This graceful attention from Mexican children is in appreciation of the “friendship school bags” sent to them last year from the children of this country through the Committee on World Friendship Among Children. The expense of the boxes is to be met | by contributions of a cent each from Mexican city school children and a half-cent from children in more rural localities. C o e “Speaking about incidents in our young lives, I will never forget an ex- perience I suffered when I was a small boy between 10 and 12 years of age,” said Senator Fletcher of Florida to a colleague. “My father's plantation was about 5 miles from the railroad, 7 miles from the county seat, 4 miles to the nearest grist mill, and I was the mill boy. Reg- ularly once every two weeks I had to haul the corn and wheat to the mill and bring back the meal, grits and flour. The mill was the old-time water mill on a creek, which I had to cross with my outfit, which consisted of one ox drawing a two-wheel cart. My father had a pair of immense white oxen. Oune of them, Brandy by name, was gentle and fast. I would go to the pasture, put a rope around his horns, jump on his back and ride him home, hitch him to the cart by means of a hickory bow around his neck, keyed to a yoke to which the shafts of the cart were attached, and I was ready to have the corn and wheat loaded. It was a day's job. Sometimes I was delayed by the miller—others having got there first, and each customer had to walt his ‘turn_for grinding. “One hot, Summer day, I failed to glve Brandy water at the mill, so when we started home he was very thirsty. I had to cross the creek on which the mill was situated, and there was quite a long, rather steep hill we had to descend to the fording place. There was no bridge. The creek was 150 to 200 feet wide and from 1 to 3 feet deep The banks on both sides were 4 of 5 feet high, but the wagons, carts and teams had worn a cut at both ends of the road to the water’s level. There was a turn in the road as we approached this entrance to the creek. I sat on the front of the cart, holding the line which was fasten- ed around Brandy's horns, the cart loaded with flour, meal and grits. We came down the hill leisurely until we got within about 100 yards of the creek, when Brandy's thirst spurred him on, and he to trot and hurry for the water. Of course my entire weight on that line in an effort to hold him had not the slightest effect on his move- ments and neither did my command or pleading. He went pell-mell after that water he had been wanting for hours, | ¢ and in doing so he made a short cut across the entrance to the creek, throw- ing the right wheel upon the bank and the left wheel 4 or 5 feet lower in the mud rut, just as we reached the creek, thus upsetting the cart and throwing me and my load of flour, meal and grits into the creek. The bow around his neck was turned so he not only couldn’t drink, but he nearly choked to death before I could get to him and take out the key and release the yoke. I landed on my feet in water up to my waist, and about that time some travelers fortunately came along and helped me right the cart, save some of my day's grinding, save Brandy, who took his time getting his water, and we drove peacefully home. He apologized for his haste and dis- obedience, and we were as good friends ever. “After that I n!w-yslfilve him water before leaving the mill and starting '!zr home,” concluded the Florida Sena- T. discrimination against them, for while the statute is general its application is practically confined to Cuba. Since the issue has been alive, in the last six years, it has caused rather hard feelings. In 1925 American postal offi- clals negotiated with Cuba a temporary parcel post conventlon, by which at parcel rates packages weighing a maxi- mum of 11 pounds were exchanged be- tween the two countries at reduced | bel rates. The agreement was that an ef- fort would be made to repeal the old cigar limitation. A bill for that pur- pose was reported favorably, but failed to reach action in the House because Congress adjourned soon thereafter. Cuba extended the temporary conven- tion anogher year. Terminated Plan in 1928, No action having been taken by Congress, Cuba terminated the parcel post convention in March last year. During the last 14 months packages mailed to Cuba have been carried at letter rates, with a maximum weight of 4 pounds 6 ounces permitted. Several hundred of the more than 1,000 firms which had developed a mall-order business with Cuba have been cut off from this trade in the last year because of the weight limi- tation and such business as has been transacted by mall has been at a much higher cost because of application of the letter rates. Meanwhile, European firms have stepped into the breach and have in- creased their mail business with Cuba materially, according to the records of the Cuban tal service showing {nirul transactions with foreign coun- ries. Consumers on Side Lines. ‘The great body of cigar consumers stand on the side lines while those most keenly interested in the mail arrangements with Cuba prepare for a struggle over these 16 words in the trary argument has been advanced that direct mail trade in cigars always will be & negligible factor of the business. Cubans have appeared less interested in the possibilities of promoting a mail business in cig: in removal of what they have come to regard as a new tariff bill which carry a burden of milllons of dollars of trade and of international good will. The domestic tobacco interests clearly intend to ap- peal to the Senate should they lose their case in the House. | . (Copyaight, 1929.) Effiéiency Is New Watchword BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Efficlency is likely to take the place of economy as the White House watch- word under the Hoover administration. | Not that the new President has aban- | doned economy, but that he is such a | rapid reorganizer for purposes of effi- | clency that slow-going Washington can | hardly keep up with him. His three pri- | vate sccretaries in place of the tradi- | tional one, the telephone which he or- | dered placed on his desk, despite the phones on their desks: his night shift of the White Housz stenographic force, | his rebuilding of the Executive Office Building so that the old basement could be made into modern offices for the add- ed force he uses, all are signs of the | times. These are small evidences of the per- sonal habits of Mr. Hoover, the prac- tices of a business executive, as they differ from the dally working habiis of a lawyer, a ncwspaper man or a col- lege president. They indicate a genuine change in the traditions of the presi- dential office, a pu to drive the executive business of the Government exactly as if it were a business enter- prise which had to be constantly shaken up, cleared of dead wood, made to work fast and turn in profits. Mr, Hoover is the first of the modern business ex- ecutive type of man to occupy the White House. He is changing the cus- toms of his office to comport with his lifelong way of doing business. More lm&mmnt than the way the new President does things are the things he does. Just as he has modern- ized business practice around his offices, he is modernizing such a thoroughly different thing as political patronage, which is ons of the heavy burdens im- posed on thLe Chief Executive. The President is required to appoint to office all of the postmasters, district attor- neys, marshals, revenue collectors, pro- hibition directors end other important officials of the Federal Government. He must sign the commissions, year after year, of thousands of men who hold the reins of Government activity. Most of these men he has never scen, and ;;ry fewu of thE!:ntadoes he personally ow well enoug] us their quali- fications for their jobsj. e : It has been saild by past Presidents that more than half of their time has been occupied meeting candidates for offices and their friends and support- ers, and deciding upon appointments. The Constitution fluces this job on one man, the President of the United States. Mr. Hoover apparently does not pro- pose to spend more time at it than is necessary. His first step has been to blow aside any traditional theory that the Presi- fact that Presidents never have had |8 With Mr. Hoover, the recommender must stand ready to be a real sponsor for the character and ability of the candidate to fill the job and fill it weil. This idea of making what is ealled political patronage a public matter, and not a secret political arrangement, is startling to many old-time politicians. To Mr. Hoover it is apparently just & matter of efficiency. The President has so much to do that he must trust a reat deal of it to others. Why not state plainly whom he entrusts with a certain task, especially if that task be the choice of a public official. The Hoover policy of requiring the Republicans in the South to set up committees which shall pass on appli- cants for Federal positions, and make recommendations to the President, is part of this same efficiency system. It has been a little difficult for the party leaders, aided by the Hoover Democrats of the States, to put it into effect, but they are coming to it. Some odd incidents crop up, like the Georgia case, where two patronage committees set themselves up, and the Postmaster General had to choose between tham. In New York State the President hes recognized what amounts to & patron- age committee, and in other States the relative responsibility of national com-~ mitteemen, Senators and others is be- coming quite clearly defined. Takes on More Duties. The first evidence of the wielding of a big stick in the matter of appoint- ments and the duties of public officials to make good * 16 the recent removal by the President of a United States dis- trict attorney in the Eastern New York district. The attorney, Willlam A. De Groot, had been asked by the Attorney General to resign back in the Coolidge regime. He had declined and asked for a further hearing as to the merits of his conduct of his office. Attorney General Mitchell advised the President that no further hearing was necessary. and the order of removal was sign without delay. Mr. De Groot probably anticipated some delay, in the interest of political harmony. Efficiency was the watchword, however. One of the important accusations against the ousted district attorney was that he did not prosecute prohibition cases in which political influence was involved. In the Hoover program of law enforcement, efficiency and not in- fluence is the proposed program. ‘Why should Mr. Hoover work longer hours, keep more secretaries busy, and aj ntly do so much more work than Mr. Coolidge, who seems to have conducted the office to general public satisfaction? The answer is that Mr. Hoover is at- dent really knows whom he appoints, except to the more important posts, or knows them well enough to sift the merits personally of Candidates Smith, Jones and Brown. Obviously he cannot know them, and must take somebody’s Judgment. Mr. Hoover promptly an- nounced that when he made l}:polnb- ments based on the judgment of some- body besides himself he would plainly state on whose judgment he was acting. Names Sponsors for Applicants. ‘Thus in appointments where the rec- ommendations of cabinet officers do not control the choice, and where the rec- ommendations of Senators, Representa. tives, members of the Republican na- tlonal committee, State chairmen the party or somebody else are the basis for lpnfl.m.ment. the President says so. He tells the Senate so when he: sends the names up for confirmation. All secrecy and mystery disappears. The Pmnddent is accepting the judgment of so_and so. This saves a great deal of time and trouble and displaces a good deal of mystery and hocum which once sur- rounded appointments. It also adds to individual and party responsibility for the men named. ~The habit of carelessly writing letters of recom- mendation for any acquaintance who wanted them will become less popular. Fifty Years Ago In The Star “The revolt against vaccinaf England,” says The Star of May Star Defends strength, Twe pers denounce the FETOE pa Vaccination. P2CHce " Tt is held that vaccination is not a certain pre- tion in 7, 1879, the cause of consumption, cancer and other ineradicable diseases. One emi- nent physician suggests with irgpressive indefiniteness . that the description which he might give of victims ruined by vaccination would cause the blood to stand still in one’s veins, and would, it is presumed, erect the hairs of one's head like the quills of the fret- ine. An Austrian physician denounces the practice in phrases full of sound, like t! in which the poly- syllabic Beaconsfield expressed his opin- ion of Gladstone. He takes a long breath and pronounces an opinion which con- cludes with the assertiaon ‘that vacci- nation is the greatest mistake and de- lusion in the mind of the discoverer; a phenomenal apparition, devoid of scien. tific foundation, and wanting in all the conditions of scientific possibility.” “For all that, smallpox does not rage among the vaccinated as an epidemic. ‘While nearly one-half of the cases were mortal before the introduction of the practice, the mortality is now only about one-sixteenth. So that the world in general is likely to retain vaccination to | escape the smallpox evil, which it neesl i and dreads, content to brave the pos- | | sible cancer and consumption which it ' knows not of.’ * L The story of how Thomas A.| Edison made a bug is related as fol-) . jows in The Star of Edison Makes May 10, 1879, by & a Bug. correspondent of the Indianapolis Journal: “One of my letters spoke of the pos- sibility of utilizing the present gas pipes by running the electric wires through them. ‘How is the wonderful Edison going to get his wires through the pipes, T should like to know?’ asked an un- ver. Edison thought it over. ‘Why see here, Johnson!' he ex- claimed the next morning, ‘Tl make a bug that will drag the wire through all the pipes in New York. “Make a bug!’ said Johnson, ‘what in the world are you talking about?” “‘Well, I'll make a bug,’ said Edison; ‘an iron bug that will go where you send it and drag a wire after it.” “His assistants drew around while he described his coming—or, rather, his going—bug. Next day he hatched a rude specimen of that insect as large as a coat button. And it stood out on the table and crawled! “It was constructed thus: A minute electro-magnet carried behind it a fine insulated wire, the armature of the mag- net operating a friction pawl. Now, ob- serve—every time the circult is closed through the magnet the armature is attracted, the pawl clutches the sides of the gas pipe with its claws, and the magnet behind is drawn toward the armature about a sixteenth of an inch. When the circuit is open the arma- ture reaches forward, ready to take a second step. Thus, at every closing of the circuit the little magnet advances one step and drags forward the insu- lated wire. This description will be perhaps incomprehensible to non-ex- perts, but more people know somethin; about electricity than formerly did, an every telegraph operator will under- stand how this iron bug reaches out its armature claws and crawls around a gas pipe. o ‘?Iow don’t mis: " sald strength. Two news- | ventive of smallpox and is frequently = tempting to do a good many things which Mr. Coolidge did not attempt to* do. His idea of the presidential office is different. Mr. Cool treated it in the traditional way, the legal way, as a lace of leadership in policy of execu- ve operations. In his economy plan he 1 that no department exceed its appropriation, and urged a saving. Mr. Hoover is likely to look more closely at what is done with the appropriation, and how more can be done. He is likely to inquire whether the whole purpose of the appropriation cannot be filled out of another a] priation, by another de- partment or au. Mr. Coolidge was President of the great business institu- tion which is the Government of the of | United States. Mr. Hoover is President and general manager. One of his' new secretaries has for gn of-his job putting pep and punch to the so-called independent offices, the governmental bureaus wi come directly under the President, without reporting to any cabinet officer. Mr. Hoover proposes to direct these in & sense that they have not hitherto had direction the White House. His to destroy some fairly have existed in Wash~ This and That By Charles E. Tracewell. by step the kittens are getting out of the basement. This is literally | true. At the age of 4 weeks they man- (aged to climb upon the -first bottom step. | ~When they were a few days older they negotiated the second step, and by the end of the fifth week several of them managed to make the third tep. ‘There they were reposing at this writ- ing, evidently not being able to get up enough nerve to go higher at this time. A flight of “stairsteps” must look like a veritable tower to a miniature cat, only recently arrived in this world, and interested in everything it sees. Mrs. Blackie’s kittens, five in number, find the steps from the bassment to the first floor the most interesting thing imaginable. No doubt to them it represents the pinnacle of achievement. Up its mys- terlous winding they see their mother disappear, along with the strange and great animals who sometimes come down to visit them. ‘These latter creatures are the posses. sors of great appendages which are termed “hands,” but which are slghtly suspicious to kittens. The hand which qescends to pat might also inflict injury, and it takes the averags kitten some four or five xeelé: to get the latter idea out of its ead. e HE A R Kittens do not become “human” un- til about the fourth week. ‘Then the racial instincts begin to assert themselves, and the little cats come to a realization that mankind is their friend. (We speak, of course, of the kittens in a good home.) Little Nipper, Alexandre Dumas, D'Artagnan, Porthos and Athos—these come tumbling over the side of their box at the sound of a human voice. As the staircase makes a handy place to sit to watch their wrestling matches, visitors commonly sit there. ‘While D'Artagnan is swarming up the broom, squirrel fashion, Alexandre Du- mas and Porthos will be rolling over and over in a close embrace. Athos, coal black, finds himself a bunk in a small box, while Nipper, ever cool and collected, prefers to sleep by himself in the big soap box in which the collection was born. The favorite sporting place of the family now is at the foot of the stairs on a rug which once did duty in the bathroom. F Do many people not like cats because they are so human in many ways and so show up the failings of humanity? d of this by watching the kittens climb the stairs. Athos, the smallest (who was the last one to get his eyes open), was the first to climb out of his box, and also the first to manage to hoist himself up to the first step. There he sat, very proudly, looking down upon his more timorous mates. When one of them attempted to climb up, Athos would slap him down. In the meantime, the other four spent their time trying to off the step. Biting at his paws and tail, Little Nipper was the most eager assailant. jant. Not only was Athos attempting to keep others from getting as high as he was, but the others were attempting to &uflrlalmoflhhperchltmhe d got ere. In a way, this seemed a perfect pic- ture of life. The same sort of thin, it may be said that jealousy and envy understand this. Edison; ‘it isn't at all likely it will ever be used to thread gas pipes; I have made it merely for fun—just to show that I can make a first-rate bug that will crawl all by himself. I shan't make i a cockroach, for there is no necessity for any morgy but—by the way, I may probably had no place in their little minds. They were simply playing. make 8 toy tning bug some time. He could be made to lighten es ough. I wonder if he could be ma:y t:nfla." Id