Evening Star Newspaper, July 25, 1929, Page 8

' I t ''WHEODORE W. NOYES. ...Editor | ternational horizon; if he had said that , we expect to rea ' ticular eoconut. THE EVENING STAR | With Sunday Morning Edition. | WABHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY. .. . .July 25, 1020 The Evening ""m: per Company ‘Buais i 11t) . and Py s Ave. ot a8 Burgpean Ofce. 14 Regent Bi.. London, Englane by Carrier Within the City. ning Sl;?-s- 45¢ per month %'}.yi}'". % 60c per month “Th lhlns nd Sunday Star ('FI\ S5 Sundays). per month The inday Star per enpy Collection made h l!'%lll'l- ers mas be sent in by mail or telephone [Ational 5000, Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. EEP and Sunda: ¥ only day only 1, i ¥ri, $4.00; 1 mo All Other States and Canada. v and Sunday..1 yr. $12.00. 1 mo., $1.00 only . 1 8¢ ay only . 1 $8.00: 1 mo., . $5.00; 1 mo.. 50c Member of the Associated Press. e Associated Press is exclusively ertitled ublication of all news 0 it or not atherwise ers pe! atchos cr Bad o i sublisFed he Tpecial di 0 the el Real Naval Limitation. Ramsay MacDonald and Herbert ‘Hoover are political realists of daring magnitude. Without waiting for Pariia- ments, Congresses or conferences to act on naval limitation, the British premier and the American President yesterday, within ‘a few hours of each other, took bold and dramatic steps in the direction of curtailing expenditure on sea arma- ment. In the House of Commons Mr. Mac- Donald announced that Great Britain will suspend work on two 10,000-ton cruisers already laid down in govern- ment vards by the late Baldwin min- istry; that two submarine contracts will be canceled and dockvard work re- duced 2t onge, and that no start will be made on Britain's 1929 program providing for two more 10,000-ton cruisers and many smaller ships. None | of this construction is now to be under- taken, the premier sald, before “fusther examination in the Autumn.” No sconer had these momentous tidings sizzled over the transatlantic eable than President Hoover cleared for action in almost identical terms. Still under the spell of the Kellogg pact | ceremony at the White House, Mr. Hoover issued a communique in diree rejoinder to the British prime minister’s statement. “It marks a new departure in discussion of naval disarmament,” sald the President in cordial approval of Mr. MacDonald's announcement, and added: “The premier introduces the principle of parity which we have now adopted, and its consummation means that Great Britain and the United States henceforth are not to compete in armament as potential opponents, but to co-operate as friends in the reduction of it.” Thereupon, suiting aetion to words, President Hoover proclaimed that the United States will not lay down the keels of three 10,000-ton cruisers of the 1920 building program recently author- tmed by Congress, Ordinarily, these _ ships—now existent merely as blue- print drawings—would have been put on the stocks some time this Fall. But, as the President points out, “it is the desire of the United States to show ' equal good Wil in our approach to the problem” (of Anglo-American limita- tion). From quarters not fired with evan- gelical zeal for disarmament the charge is lkely to be forthcoming that Mr. Hoover has flown in the face of Con- gress by halting eruiser building which the House and Senate ordered. There I 18 no justifieation for such a suggestion. The three cruisers which the President is holding up pending “opportunity for ' full eonsideration of their effect upon the final agreement for parity, which ,” are among the 15 ships which Congress suthorized to be laid down at stated intervals within a period of three years. But Mr. Hoover i at liberty, under the cruiser law. to postpone the laying down of the ships in question until the end of any given eurrent fiscal year, which (in the case of the fiscal year 1930) is yet more than eleven months away. In the meantime the President hopes for more develop- | ments in the direction of a disarma- ment agreement. ‘Mr. Hoover does not fail to point eut that, “generally speaking, British eruiser strength considerably exceeds American strength at the present time.” There is a deal of milk in that par- ‘The American people are anxious to look upon our British eousins—as the President puts it—as ' eo-operating friends and not potential foes. But Uncle 8am will not be con- tent, even in his most altruistic and pacific mood, to be a whit weaker at sea than John Bull. Happlly, President Hoover, in the stress he lays on parity, identifies him- self resolutely with that principle. He may be expected to stand by it. He will not fail to vindicate it when Pre- mier MacDonald pays us in October the visit now definitely determined upon. In the interval there is no cause for Midsummer heat upon the part either of naval zeslots or peace-at- any-price pacifists. With practical ! 4dealists like Ramsay MacDonald and Herbert Hoover on the Anglo-Amerciar naval limitation job, that cause is in safe and sane hands. The future may trustfully be allowed to take eare of ftself under their enlightened guidance. ——— e — T s the duty of every ecitizen to ‘tmu-mhutnnudw. Aver- age Citizen would have felt s warm glow of datisfaction. 1If, six months ago, he had said that the efforts of Mr. Morrow and Mr, Kellogg had made the sun shine through the clouds *on, the in- he had caught a total of 200 speckled trout and that he wished that all news- paper men were as well trained as the Washington correspondents, those declarations would have been brosd- east as significant utterances of an oracle, But today the statements of Mr. Coolidge are read. more with the thought of finding out what an ex. President thinks about than for their value in shedding light on the world in general. The tickers that record the pulse of Wall Stredt show no emotion. The politicians on Capitol Hill remain | neutrally silent. No statements are issued to combat the effect of Mr. Coolidge's sentiments; diplomats and the heads of foreign governments go about their business undisturbed and the birds in the park twitter as usual. Mr. Coolidge may feel comfortably relieved, Juxurating in the right of free speech. But it would only be natural it he felt a twinge when he realizes that what the President says is big news—what an ex-President says makes & mere “human interest yarn.” emeee A Welcome Change. Traffic Director Harland has indi- cated that he is willing to reconsider, his heretofore adamant stand on the| left turn for automobiles at controlled intersections in the National ‘Capital. In making this announcement, how- ever, he stresses the fact that his own views have not changed in the slightest; but that due to the volume of dissatis- faction over his pet scheme, the rotary turn, he is willing to abide by the wishes of the majority of those who have formed their opinions by actual day by | day experience with the maneuver. Mr. Harland proposes as a compro- mise to the rotary turn a modification | of the Hoover turn, the turn that came out of the Hoover conference on street and highway safety called by the President of the United States when he was Secretary of Commerce. This body | of experts, the greatest ever gathered together for discussion of the ever- present traffic problem, stressed the need of uniformity in all regulations. and the left turn from the center of the street was decided upon as the best method for making this diffieult maneuver. ‘The Hoover turn is completed on one signal, that is, if it can be completed | without interference to the traffic Jane which fhust be crossed. Mr. Harland's suggested modification calls for the turn to be made from the inside— fundamentally the same as the Hoover turn—but on two changes of signal in the same manner as the present outside left turn. ‘While the suggestion by Director Harland ccincides in its essentials with the turn accepted by the Hoover con- ference as standard in that it will provide for uniformity throughout the eity in turning left from the left lane of traffic, it will not lessen traffic con- gestion at intersections, as would the full use of the Hoover turn, and it will not put Washington on s firm basis in the select fraternity of cities which are i striving, and in many ecases attaining national unifermity. It is difeult to understand why if Mr. Harland is apparently willing to go half of the way, or even two-thirds of the way with the opinions and prac- tices of the country’s greatest trafie experts, he is not willing to go the whole way. The two outstanding merits of the Hoover turn are promotion of correct driving practice—crossing only one line of traffic and that facing the driver when making & left turn—and the lessening of congestion by keeping traffic moving, that is when turning traffic can move without interference to through traffic. Probably there is no city in the United States where the driver of a ear who wishes to deviate from a straight line—to make a left turn, for instance—does not lose his right of way over through traffie. It is axiomatic. With the Harland proposal, therefore, despite the fact that the driver wish- ing to make a left turn has forfeited his right of way and that there is no trafic approaching in the lane that he wishes to cross, he would be forced to wait for & change of signals. Obviously, in the Hoover turn he could go ahead without waiting for the change, if the way was clear and he could do so without obstructing through traffic. . ‘Therein lies the difference between Mr. Harland’s proposal and the stand- ard left turn. Mr, Harland would have the motorist wait anyway. The Hoover turn would ‘permit him to go ahead, fully cognizant of the fact that he had loste his right of way but alive to the advantages of cleared intersections when conditions are propitious for & complete maneuver en one signal. In other words, the modification proposed ! by Mr. Harland would not permit a traffic officer to wave the motorist around the semaphore if there was no trafic approaching, but would eompel him to make the motorist wait for’ a complete change of signals. Under the Hoover turn the officer, noting the ab- THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTO. fundamentally impractical.. The most revolutionary discoveries in agriculture, as in any other acience, result as by- products of researches whose paths have been laid out in other directions. The inter-relations of living things are com- plex and manifolé. Increased wheat production may come from a study di- rected primarily at produecing early blooming chrysanthemums. Epizootic diseases may be conquered as the end result of an investigation of the habits of earth worms. ‘The very nature of research is such that it cannot be charted in advance. 1t is exploration of the unknown. Voy- ages which set out to find shorter routes to the Indies ‘end upon the shores of new continents of knowledge. There are few provinces of nature which are not intimately connected with agriculture. It is the basic prac- D¢ tieal application of science. The answer to the problem of the Kansas wheat farmer may be found not in the wheat fields of Kansas, but at the bot- tom of the Pacific Ocean. The ques- tions which trouble the Louisiana sugar planter may find their ultimate answer in meteorological investigations at the North Pole. But research laboratories in Washing- ton and at the various fleld stations which are supported by appropriations for specific activities are not free to change their paths as the signs along the way direct. They must concentrate their voyages on reaching the Indies and ignore the stars which arise before them indicating the way to domains of far greater riches. A lump sum appropriation would allow much greater freedom. There may be practical difficulties in the way of ac- cepting Secretary Hyde's suggestion— but it must be remembered that re- search hardly can be judged by stand- ards ‘of business efficiency. Vovages in the ships of experiment into the seas of the unknown are quite different from the voyages of the freighters of trade between two known ports, ot After Mussolini has studied the situa- tion hecbecomes an advocate of world peace. No intelligent statesman belleves that he is sufficiently powerful to man- age anything that looks like a world war. ———————— ‘The Japanese beetle is described as highly ornamental—but his effort to be conspicuous is not quite so persistent as it was feared it might become, Even horticulture has its spectacular moments. ————s— A lame wrist, due to fishing, leaves, ex-President Coolidge in a posftion to| make it elear whether, aftérsll, Izaak Walton is not the patron saint of American polities. r—oms ‘The French government will pay what is due—and thereby secure the enthu- siastic willingness of Americans to eon- tribute to the kindly endeavors of Ls Belle Prance. PO An argument between a Boishevik and a Chinése would be interesting, per- haps, but in present world exigencies it would have “nothing to do with the case.” — Airplane tests begin to indicate that a competent aviator ean go up as far a5 he likes and remain as long as he chooses. e SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON, Careless Expression. It left us weary by the way, And yet, what there we heard ‘Was in the passing of the day An {ll-considered word. Philanthropy its favor flings To meet our human need. But Folly linked with Power brings Unhappiness, indeed. Influentislity. “Are you a wet or a dry?" “I am & dry.” answered Senator Sorghum, “but T'll tell you confidential- ly that grandfather has always nused a little liguor. I don't hesitate to say that if you happen to know grandfa- | ther's particular bootlegger, you're liable to find yourself with quite a bunch of political influence. Jud Tunkins says he has listened to s0 much talk that he's beginning to think he's entitled to a little applause for being a good audience. Seats of the Mighty. This life of toil I don’t admire! With cheerfulness I'd meet Values that range, 11 T a coupon could acquire Providing me a seat Upon the Stock Exchange! And to proper quietude, 1 should with confidence, Myself betake. 1t on the motor bus I viewed A space that's not at all immense ‘Where I & seat may take! Back Seat’ Drivers. “Does your wife drive from the back neat?” “No,” answered Mr. Chuggins. “She only gets excited and makes it- uncer- tain what she will persuade the driver to do next.” “Y have reminded you.” said Hi Mo, sence of oncoming traffic and realizing the value of clear.crossings, could wave the driver ahead and the turn could be completed in one operation. The Star congratulates Director Harland and his assistants in the traffle office on the departure from their stand-pat policy and their willingness the ssge of Chinatown,” of the tombs of our ancestors. It is a sorrow that our great family did not concentrate on the establishment of a grocery store.” Back to Earth. The aviator soars on high Atar from mortal sight. “gwat” at least one fly. The fly is one | to reconsider & matter which so witally And still we sigh, “Oh, see him fly— eommon enemy on whom the world may eoncentrate. R Mr. Coolidge and the Press. The President's Official Spokesman, now. dead, must have turned over in his grave yesterday and rattled his bones when Mr. Coolidge, now a private and unassuming citizen, gave half a hundred Washington newspaper men an interview without restricting them in what they would say and how they would say it. But there was really no occasion, for such perturbation on the part of the deceased Official Spokes- tman. For there is a great amount of difference between what Mr. Coolidge used to say when he was President and what he now says as a private citizen, 1, six months ago, Mr. Coolidge had said that the Nation was in a prosper- ous condition and that the railroads ‘were wreathed in contented smiles and that the outlook for the future was un- usually bright and inspiring, his words would have been affects not only Washington motorists but visitors to the eity. The Star hopes that the traffic office may see its way clear to recommend to the Commission- ers an adoption of the full Hoover turn in order that the National Capital can take its rightful place as leader in uni- formity for traffic regulations in the Upited States. N Soviet Russia may have China won- dering whether some of the' press agents are to be taken seriously. —————— s Research in Agrioulture. A lump sum appropriation for agri- eultural research is advocated by Secre- tary Hyde in place of the nt method of appropriating specific sums for specific projects. His reasoning seems convineing. The legislative mind is concerned primarily with the practical. It is inclined to frown upon proposed expenditures for investigations which are not intimately connected with practical problems. But how's he going to light!” “If you always tells de truth.” said Unele Eben, “you is gwinter look Jike mebbe you, is mebbe double-crossin’ somebody!” e Like to Stay Up, Prom the Ann-Arber Dally )l;n - 1t's easy to understand why some to the ent flights. 'rh"e‘y':”uu fellows who like to stay up all night, o An Atrocious Pun. From the Springfield, Ohio, Daily Ne: So many rlfll have been ecom- mitt suicide in the Paris subway that the started a move against it. ffic is tied up when trains are forced to come to a dead stop. Checkmate! Prom the Detroit News. Children under 16 years of forbidden admission to m are plastered In large Paradoxically enough, this attitude is plote *| was indigenous D. C., THURSDAY, - 'THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Perhaps old Dr. Johnson's definition of a good book is as good as any. “A good bock,” he sald “is one you can® take in the hand and carry to the fire.” The definition is excellent, not ir what it says, but in what it leaves out. No attempt is made to discriminate be- tween books, but the whole task is left to the reader. The very fact of taking a book in one's hand presupposes t it is & good book for the one who picks it up. After all, that is the only definition that holds. All Sorts of qualities may | id to be necessary for a | book,” but the canny old fellow of long | ago did not bother himself with them. | His criterion was based on the likes and dislikes of the reader, the supreme judge of tastes. Every man to h's own taste—such must be the basic theory and Dl'll:tlul! of literature. Enforced selections by some one else may do very well during | achool days, but afterward a man reads as_he pleases, Too often his mature reading is| based on nothing more or less than a desire to refrain from the “necessary reading” which he had forced upon him as & child. Many an adult dislikes Dickens' “Tale of Two Oities” because it was too stren- uously prafsed in school days. Had he been left. to his own likes and dislikes he would have found it in time, but as i things wére he took a dislike to it through too much official praise. * ok ok ‘When Dr. Johnson seys that s good book is one you can take in the hand he means that the taker is to be the chooser. One would not have s book in the hand, he says in effect, if one did not have enough discrimination to pick and choose. Good books are not to be left to the judgment of a teacher, to be handed over to “scholars” with authority, but are to be one’s own choice. £ What may be “good” for' me would not be “good” for you, 1 may get the greatest “k world out of reading the latest edition of some gigantic mail order house. Who knows? ‘There is in this city an intellectusl man with college degrees, who holds fine position with a firm where intelli- gence is given first place, who declares ]thn such a book is his favorite read- ng. For many years he has made a mail order catalogue his favorite bedtime | reading. Now, a book t be inter- esting to secure a reader's suffrage at such an hour. The man of whom we speak is inter- ested in life as it is lived by human beings. That is wi the “farmer's Bible” receives his daily attention. The whole gamut of everyday life i3 summed up in the thick tome of 1,000 pages. Here he finds life spread out, as it were, over the whole phase of existence. | There is plot, movement, aciion here, | although not in s0 many words. P haps it takes & sclentist: as we | |scholar to see all this, but if such a| man says that he does, who shall cry him nay? That was what Dr. Johnson meant. * ok ok ok p [ Another thing which Dr. Johnson did {not say in so many words, but which | we may believe may be imputed to him. | {was that the mood is everything in reading, the opinion of others nothing, | or almost nothing. Since moods are | various, changing from hour to hour, | and with interests, as well as with hu- | BY PAUL V. It is 50 edsy to magnify the distance of a calamity from ourselves and there- by to rest in fancied security from shai g in its ravages. Take the Mediter- ranean fruit fly down in Fiqrida, for | example: It is being confined to Florid: and only in that unfortunate region are men seeing their prosperity vanish. What if some 25 or 30 banks have be obliged to close because their loa suddenly been eaten up by the pest? Our own banks in Washington are safe and sound. So the “distance lends en- chantment” to our fancies. * %ok % Probably even the Floridians were but passively ‘interested in that far awa) pest which annoyed Pharaoh, when, as | told in Exodus, viii.24, “There came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants’ houses | and into all the land of Egypt. and the | land was corru by reason of the | swarm of files.” There were no flies on the Israelites, | so they did not worry. In the same | way there are no flies on our District | of Columbia fruit. so why worry? ‘Those yssinian flies, as they are | known in Orient and in Egypt, are whoppers—as big as bumble bees—and thev come in swarms, driving cattle mad with pain until the beasts roll in the | dirt to get rid of them. But not one | has ever pested anvbody in the Dis- triet of Columbia. We are forgetful of what we miss, * k% * It is not certain that the fruit fly will not pay us s visit before the Summer is over. The scientists knew of its menace, years before it reached PFlorida, and they were on the alert to bar its entrance, yet it came. They are now fighting it to prevent its escape: from' Florida. but how can a cordon of men bar a little fly, no larger than a house- flv. from traveling where it pleases? It does not limit its ‘diet to eitrus fruits: it has an omniverous appetite and its menu covers not less' than 72 kinds of items, ineluding grapes, apples, cherries. . rden . vegetabls It 05,1 known for 100 t not 1o b”an own for 100 years, yet not,conquere., It was discovered in l{;‘u“% l‘.fl. and, since then. horticulture has been abandoned on the islands. ' As statéd our Department of Agriculture, “practically every fruit erop -of value:| to man is subject to attack by this fruit fiy.” The only exceptions, of .im+ portance are the Chinese banana and the pineapple. It has néver been known to infest pineapples, green’or rine, and that fact .u'!:“. that possibly the best way to starve it. aut is to grow pineapples exclusively in place of all other vegetation, though the remedy might prove as bad as the disease. ‘The United States has suffered various kinds of insect ts. each of which seemed, at its worst, dangerous encugh to constitute a major calamity. Nevertheless, it is impossible to con: vince the entomologists that they can- not. win their fights and save mankind from destruction at the onslaughts of “bugs.” * ok ok % Half a _century ago. there was the locust—otherwise the of the Rocky Mountains, and fed on grasses and flowers of the hills and mlrlu. until the seftling of the otas and farther West made a con- necting feast-belt for the creatures. and red into the farms of the they overflow ploneers. ‘They swarmed as badly as did the pests of Pharaoh, and ate up tle cro as fast as they . Farmers fought Sheft-iron “Hopperdgiers” dragged DY eheet- P . 0 horses across the fields, so that myriads of the insects were scraped up onto the scoops, and poisoned with kerosene. The insects are fond of bait amtenedh adnd m“?“ed with paris green or Jondon purple. Old_settlers’ of Minnesota relate how s eall was made by the 'onmr of the State for a day of fasting wnd mfl&lfl;flfil locust pest be remaved ) o ‘3 ;hflull::l of citigens next day, as if by miracle, all the dissppeared. There has {fort but, above all, physical comfort. BACKGROUND OF EVENTS . COLLINS. e | s have | sp: man beings, it is impossible for any one to_tell another one what to read. "“Wlul t difference does ft make Dante’s “Divine Comedy” a great work, if the thing tires you beyond appeal? You phss no judgment on Dante, let Dante pass no judgment on you. Some of the greatest readers in the world not only not like Comedy.” but, refuse to read it in any translation. There are so many books in the world, to suit so mnr moods, at no one can read them ail or like them all. Some of the finest intellects have greatly cared for detective fiction, while other men and women, quite as intel- lectual, never had read a piece of fic- tion of this t) in their lives. thi) The mood is the cares to read is w! one should read. Let no one . su that ‘this line of action necessar! |¥ means cheap fiction, or_trashy stuff in general. ‘The mood depends upon the reader, in the Jast analysis, and is based not only on the whims of the moment, ard especially upon. the . prevailing en- thusiasms, .but even more is built on the fundamental tastes of the reader. m‘fi:\dtl."mu: "j“":l’ must. have some on 1in justice, sure knowledge of good and bad, or they are not Jne sort of tastes which we believe Dr. John- mr’l:ned to when he said that a good | one you can take in the hand and carry to the fire. * oK o K Perhaps some reader here will think we have heen reading too much into what the great old man of English literature (and so American literature) d. If s0, let us take the last clause, hl';: grrrzyld'o lh:h?l't Ohe does not anything into ti &l w);:t the words say. . Pt 0 one would carry & book to the fire, or to any other place, if it were Dot a convenlent book to handle. Great, heavy, unpleasant volumes, which tire one out .?hyllcl]ly‘ can never be “good” baoks. They may be necessary books, important books, even great books, but they will n iy ot be good books in the true The temptation to ‘make large, f hefty books, imposing o buyers and Dleasing to authors, must be a large one to a book publisher. The bigger a book, the more pages it has (and hence }:x'e' hntv}ller ;zfl Is, in most cases), the er e ce the s publisher may It is pleasing to the vanity of the average reader to purchase and to be | seen reading such-weighty volumes, But | every reader knows that the thing is not comfortable. And what does one want more than comfort in reading? We will say that Dr. Johnson meant comfort in lg:ak book should be. A good book should furnish & reader not only meéntal com- ing of what a Abraham Lincoln read “stretched out, face down, on a hard board floor, but any one who has Jried that way ‘of g knows that one must be ux)’lnmln w"dfl it. * re effete readers demand that their books be easy to handle, light in weight, pleasant to the touch. English publishers hitherto have excelled in this regard, but recent American publi- | cations indicate that publishers on this side of the Atlantic are heeding the lesson. With a comfortable book, the selection of one's own personal taste and mood, any reader with average ability may know, from himself, that a good book is one you can take in the hand and carry to the fire. That is as far as any one should go in ing to define a good book, enough. not been an outbreax since, and that ‘was more than 40 years ago. Indians and others sometimes eat grasshoppers in preferenee to the white man’s oysters and snails. There is no accounting for ecultivated tastes: un- cuitivated folk are not fond of hoppers, unless properly cooked., but St. Jol ate them raw with wiid honey for a * k% % Next after grassnoppers eame cotton caterpillars, which had been raised on wild nettles in Mexico, but acquired a taste Io; ‘Texas t;’:‘atmn about 1878 and | swarmed across the Rio Grande like the | bootleggers that they were. About that same time the Colorado potato beetle mét the Horace Greeley young d heard his excelsior ery: Pike's Peak or bust!” and the beetle imitated that by singing “Go East, | gg&n}g_‘ml and grow up with the, As the farmers had one long potato field from the pioneer border top:hln street, the beetles feasted to their hearts’ cantent until the farmers be- gan to feed them paris green and lon- don purple consisting of from 30 to 40 per_cent of arsenate of lead. The question being asked of an en- tomologist as to why the street eom- missioner is now spraying Washington shade trees, the expert smiled and sug- gested that he had no idea, unless it was. 1o get rid of a surplus stock of arsenate of lead. It is time in hot weather cial ‘'harm, except to' automobiles; other bugs don’t mind it, up or under the o . ees. . This revived a_story of an incident on a Mississippi River boat some years ago, when the poisons were less familiar. e chef decided to serve ice cream to the ‘passenger, and when it camie to the table, it was so pretty in color that some curious guests inquired how the color was.produced, .The ghef, confessed that he had no idea ‘what the coloring matter was, but he found some in bage'on déck and used'if. ‘It proved to be London purple—arsenate of lead mixture. * All witnesses: ave now dead, but the arsenate is still fed to inseets (not dncluding. men), either, sprinkled from airplanes or by “Negro and mule wfi\.}n "—the Negro astride a mule, aring actoss' his saddle & pole long enough to reach over two rows of cot- ton.” ‘On‘ each end of the pole is a cheesecloth bag with powder, and it sprays sthe. poison upon two rows at once, * % % * ‘The San Jose scale in California at- tacked fruit trees in the decades 1870 to 1890, and toward the late years spread with ship) nursery stock into the Atlantic Coast region. Dr. Marlatt of the Department of Agriculture imported ladybirds to eat the San Jose scale, but the ladybirds never got fair play, for the farmers killed the scales faster with sprays. So the experts, feeling the im- ition on the ladybird guests. used to rd them free in ladybird hotels, ready to sally out when needed as re- serves. ‘Those ladybirds were of the aristoeratic family of Chilicorus similis, but later another family of ladybirds, Novius cardinalis came over from Aus- tralla and ate up the cottony cushion JULY 25, 1929, Protests Overcrowded Street Car Lines Here To the Bditor of The Btar: m:l will n&"o."mm"wm i T see by papers that the Was] n Rail- way & Electric_ Co. e to the Puhlic Utilitles Commission its o ly :o the commission’s inv!]hflxnnl!w & new merger 5 150 observe that there vm financial sensation” on the local stock exch: rmrdu when $850 a share was m for W. R. & E. common. It advance, ~according financial editor, of 100 poin last bid price and, according to Mr. 'al:ng “hung up & new mark for all Soon after that new mark for Wash- ington Railway & Electric was hung up, the writer of this lament was being hung up on his customary t on the Mount Pleasant street car line—namely a strap which the Washington Railway & Electric supplies for its nt cash customers for several hours a day, hi . common all other unfortinate patrons of the Sardine expresses which travel the Mount Unpleasant line, I am only an easy mark. 'o be quite serious: Why is not as much attention bestowed in Washington upon the rights of the non-motoring &lbfle, to which I happen to belong, as the automobiling blic. We r much, and perhaps fully justified, re- monstrance against the left turn for motor cars. 11l not some influential voice speak up on behalf of a good turn for riders in street cars? Last evening I waited at Fourteenth | street and New York avenue at 6:10 o'clock, long after the homegoing rush hour, for a Mount Pleasant car into which I could jam my way for at least standing room. the third packed car lumbered along, I piled my way into the mob at the rear entrance, which was so clogged that passengers eould only with difficulty punch their arm fnr"‘rd to the conductor for fare-pay- Ing pui more aboard, on onto other people’s shoulders. I have not had a seat on Mount Pleasant cars at the early evening hour all Summer. They remain overcrowded, as a rule, until Eighteenth street and Columbia road is reached. I believe this to be an intolerable and unneces- sary condition and one that is wholly due to the refusal of the company to maintain in service at the end of the day a sufficient number of cars. Be- fore any fare increase is awarded to the W. R. & E., if it is asking for one, or to any other street ear company, I h d arms FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE, 3313 Sixteenth street northwest. R sood | Ragweed Elimination By District Is Urged To the Editor of Thi ar: In a few weeks the hay-fever season will be upon us. Nine per eent of the fected, more or less, by the ragweed pol- len. If this same proportion holds true in the District of Columbla, there are 4,500 people in this eity who are look- ing forward to the coming month with Chicago, as quoted in the Literary Di- gest for July 13, says “the destruction of all weeds would reduce the occurrence of hay fever by almost $0 per cent.” Here is an opportunity for the District of Columbia to perform an invaluable population. Ra; viclous varieties :ro'm! fusion in many parts of Rock Creek Park, and in many vacant and neglected properties about the city. These pesti- Ience-breeding nuisances apparently are rmitted without a thought by the ealth Department, the Park Commis- sion and the fortunate 91 per cent of the population. An_epidemic of any other description, affecting 9 per cent of the r&;l lation. certain] would re- sult fn definite acti for the en- upon an_estim tire country, Washington's proportional monetary loss due to this annual plague would be $225,000. If one considers the loss due to decreased efficiency during the several weeks of affliction as well as the actual loss of time, doctors’ bills and traveling expenses in efforts to get away from ragweed-infested areas, this estimate surely is very conservative. It hardly is ible to estimate the amount of iliness during the early Win- eed of at least two p 5 A small part of $225.000 spent in de- stroying weeds during the first two weeks of August should prove an ex- cellent investment to the taxpayers and merchants. A Washington free from rank growths of weeds in unkempt spots not only would prove a much more liveable place for those who suffer from this annual pestilence, but would be much more agreeable place to look at. If your excellent paper would be will- ing to use its efforts toward having this dangerous and annoying pest abated on both public and private properties, I am sure that vou will receive a large measure of gratitude and appreciation. ELDRED MOWERY. oot Door Knob Condemned As Carrier of Germs BY E. E. FREE, PH. D. ‘The germless Eden which sanitarians imagine, from which are to be banished every common drinking cup and com- mon towel and even those individuals who dare to sneeze in public or to kiss in private, will have to get along with- out another. familiar article of every- day life, the door knob. In the forth- coming issue of the New York City medieal journal, American Medicine, Dr. W. W. Lewls of St. Paul, professor in the Medical School of the University of Minnesota, condemns this universal implement of push or pull as one of the world’s best transfer stations for germs. Persons with infectlous disease of the eyes or throat sre almost certain, Prof. Lewis believes, to contaminate their hands and fingers with millions of living germs. Every grasp of a-door knob leaves millions of these unwelcome citizens on the surface that is touched. Door knobs of public buildings, for ex- ample, are touched continually by such infected persons. Within a few seconds after such a germ population has been left on the door knob, a healthy person may come along, touch the knob, and acquire unconsciously a_quota of the living germs. Although Dr. Lewis sug- gests no substitute for the condemned kngb, electrical engineers are now in & position, it is reassuring to remember, to provide doors that can be-opened by & touch of the foot or even by a word spoken agamst a sensitive diaphragm, cent that it is familiar to present read- ers. 1t was so serious 25 years -r that Texas banks went under as Florida banks are doing in the presence of the scale, and they also got free board from the Department of A,ruwuuure ‘while being held in reserve all .the cot- tony cushion scales had been devoured. Children used to sing to torment them: “Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home: Yo\ir house is en fire; your children alone.” But nobody ever seemed to scare a real ladybird with the song so long as the cottony cushion scale was found or the department continued its free hotel for ladybirds. It is explained st the department that the manna which saved the lives of the fleeing Israelites was the ct of scales, If z why should we feed it now to ladyl . while our own epi- cureans can get nothing more delicate than Chinese birds' mests? Will not breskfast food maker serve us manna a la Moses?* ruined :J Australian ladybirds. it. would “reduce” some ladyb! and ' know, who want a boyish shape like & | fruit fly. The State of Texas offered & reward of $50,000 to any one who would find .a means of overcoming the weevil, The authorities received much advice, including .several d(;flers from n;en in EQ , recommending prayer, and some zverl?:flered to come over and lead ‘in prayer in the fields, if expenses were guaranteed, The reward has not been given, * ok k% In 1890 the "rypss ;nzll_: t:“hhu“‘ in New England and laf e brown- tail moth. They had been imported by sclentists and had escaped. So did careless scientists. The fight against them is mainly with sprays, an A. W. O. L. belt 30 miles wide runs from Canada, north of Lake Cham- plain, to Long Island, wherein the fight is especially strenuous to guard agaimst the moths ading westward, “Ils tl panese beetles into in 1916. Now behold the 'ashington to catch . ‘e like ours canned, ~ . (Gesyrighte 1930, by Paul V. Collins.) . is about to submit | people of the United States are af- | little pleasure. Dr. Arnold H. Kegel of | service to a very substantial part of its | in rank pro- | |Ramifications of Eastern Row Are Puzzling to Western Mind the fabulous cave unlocked nme ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS - BY FREDERIC J. RASKIN. uts at your disposal serv- vr:,es of an ::unnvz ornnmlutlon in serve you in any ea- pacity that relates to information. This service is free. Fallure to make use of of benefits to which you are entitled. Your obligation is onl{ 2 cents in coin or stamps inclosed with your inqul for direct reply. Address The Eve: Star Iniormation Buregu, J. Haskin, Director, ‘Washington, D. C. Q. Where is Marion Talley’s farm residence?—F. 8. N. A. Miss Marion Talley has purchased a section of land 4 miles north and 1 mile west of Le it deprives you Levant, Kans. Q. Who originated the traffic light system?—O0. O, A. The use of lights in traffic sig- naling undoubtedly grew out of rail- road practice. Their arrive more or less simultaneously in the h‘ger cities of the country. They were fli used in the form of lanterns to make visible at night the indications of officer-operated semaphores. Later both officers and lights were ri in towers for the pus of making the indications more visible to trafic and to give the officers better view of traffic conditions and the activities of officers at adjacent intersections. De- troit had one of the first of these tower systems. The advantages of of- ficers at adjacent intersections working together lad to the development of interconnected, mechanically timed sig- of elaborate technical methods which are in general use at the present time. Q. Do peculate and steal mean the same thing?—8. W. A. A.: They both mean to pilfer, but peculate has the special meaning of embezzling, of -ppr:pnlung to one’s self property intrusted to one’s keeping. Q. Where is & good place in the United States to hunt fur-bearing animals?~L. C. A. Among the States producing the most,_fur-bearing animals it is probable that Louisiana ranks highest on aceount of its large muskrat catch. Martens appear most plentiful in Northwestern States. Minks are plentiful throughout the wooded areas of this country where t tensively. Blue foxes do not occur wil in the United States. Red foxes are common throughout the greater portion of this country, most of them Mng in the Northern woode& regions. Fishers Northern States where civilization has not disturbed their haunts. Q. Is the word Itor” as applied {to those who deal in real estats copy- righted? G. B. A. Mr. Nathan Willlam MacChesney, | general counsel for the National As- | sociation of Real Estate Boards, savs that the term “realtor” is not copy- righted. as it is not subject to copyright. However, the realtor emblem, the most conspicuous part of which is the term tor” written across the middle of the Mississippi, New York, North Caroli Ohio and Oregon. The term coined in 1916, is a trade name owned by the National Association of Real | Estate Boards and haa peen defined it to mean a person engaged in the r¢ ent devoted flm"lgé ‘This | ber int, Kans.,, in Thomas County. Miss Talley’s post office will be | se seemed to | nals and the subsequent development | are found almost exclusively in the | estzte business who is an active mem- of a_constituent member or board of the National Association of Real Estate Boards, and as such s member of the national association, who is sub- Ject wea“fu?'.‘n“ ‘:nfld‘ tions, who observe ndards of conduct, a who is entitled to its benefits. et Q. Js there s reward offered for & pair of passenger pigeons?—J. R. A. At one time there were a few re- wards for the finding ot a breeding pair, of passenger pigeons. The rewards, how- ewr, have been withdrawn. Q. When were the clocks ~ with Tdm’wm made by the Hoadleys? i ey nineteenth ce‘murv R e Q. Do college senfors wear whi - lars with their caps and gowns? w)f’é. some o ot The chles 1o ot mart . The collar the academic costume. i o Q. Are there any Mohicanm Hvi w:‘mmnm7;m H.yT, i . e Bureau of Indiz says that the Mohican tr onf Ifighwlm is the same as the Mahi~an. This was | one of the Algonquin tribss, and if any of the Mohicans remain they are in- |corporated in the Siockbridge tribes. | The Stockbridge ITndians are closely reonnected with the Delawares, although !sl;e':e m;el ;mts ':ckhbr:‘gch of this tribe, of the i ge Indians live in Q. What are the duties of an actu-’ ary?—M. b A. An actuary is a computing official |of an insurance company, one whose | profession it is to calculate insurance |risks and premiums, a person skilled in theories and problems involved in | making these calculations. Q. What size are the flags Government usess . B & ot e | A. Tbe Government uses three sizes |of flags for its poles and calls them as_foliows: The storm size, which is $xoly Jeet: the post size, which 15 10x eet, and the size, | 20x38 feet. g ey | Q. What is done wit ‘MT'!;’:K. - h old paper . en it is unfit for use, it 2 changed at the Treasury for nevA"';zlz'e t&l,d = tlhen destroyed. It is macerated a pulp. Q. What is meant & stock car in, automobile parlance?. . L. L. The American Automobile Assoe | ciation says that a stock ear i a3 man- facturer's model of car that is in reg- ular production, is regularly catalogued in the current catalogues of the manu- | facturer, is advertised in the regular schedule of advertising and is identical in technical details and in other re- spects with the required produection of said model as specified in certain rules, Q. Is there any place where married ‘mfg L:n not eligible as teachers? ‘ A. Monroe County, Tenn., hereafter | will bar married men from teaching in the elementary schools. Married women already have been disqualified. Q. Is any one now living who was lcs‘;lw 'e(;: in any way with Dickens? AfCharles Dickens' one-time maid- servant, Mrs. Elizabeth Eastdown, is living in Higham, near Rochester. She | was 82 years old In March. American observers are inclined to view the flare-up in Manchuris as |‘ part of the general course of events in the Far East which the Western minds find diffieult to Tollow. The Chinese | Eastern Railway has a record as a trouble maker that extends over many | years, and judgments in this eountry as to the cause’ of the present quarrel range from blame for either China or Russia or both to frank admission that nobody on this side of the Pacific nows. ‘There is, however, much sym- pathy for the aspirations of the Na- tionalist government and its efforts to free China from foreign interferences generally. £ “The instability of the two nations involved” impresses the Newark Eve- ning News, and that paper observes: “China has not yet completed her revo- lution. The organisation of Russia | under Soviet rule is far from complete, Public sentiment eannot mobilize either country as it ean in the West. | Experience_in self iule is still in its | infaney. Mistakes leading to unfor- tunate oconsequences may easily be made. There are wise heads, however, at Nanking and Moscow.” “The Chinese want very much to try to rid themselves of all foreign domina- tion, commercial and political, an am- bition with which free people must sympathize,” asserts the Los Angeles | Express, with the further analysis of the situatio “The Chinese do not mean that either Russia or Japan shall have Manchuria. It is no sudden de- cision. No sooner had the old war lord, Chang Tso-lin, departed to his ancestors and his rebellion ended by his son hoisting the Nationalist flag over Muk- den, than the Nanking government be- gan putting its anti-foreign policy into practice. arly this year the Chinese took over the schools of North Man- churia that are financed by the Rus- | Then they took to themselves the rail- way's fleet of Amur and Sungari River steamers, and quickly followed with tak- ing over the rallway system, thus lead- 1 itself and expulsion of Soviet raflwa | officials and employes.” “It is the purpose of the Chinese Na. tionalist movement.” agrees the Port- land Oregon Journal, “to reclaim China for the Chinese. It is 8 movement based on a just cause. The present situation in Manchuria is an ou wth of that movement, plus irritation at certain Soviet activities in China, * * * Chinese do not want Russians in China, or Russian capital, it is entirely likely that a solution of the problem can be reached upon groper terms. If the Chinese want a_ different arrangement from that which has existed, a dif- ferent arrangement probably can be The Savannah News sees China assuming she s stro; nough 'to fling Russia and all her Communistic opaganda out once =2nd for all.” “Again the Chinese Eeastern champion among trouble threatens the peace of the world. claims the Oakland Tribune. many are the issues involved, so deeply imbedded the prejudices, that men in neutral nations will have difficulty when they seek to place the blame. Russia has on her side the fact that she built the rail line and negotiated & with China. China declares Russia broke the treaty by spreading Com- munist propaganda, and uses this o ment to justily the carrying out of the announced intentions of the strongest government it has had in years to take over all foreign possessions in the seems destined to cause some more.” “The threat of war,” says the Atlanta Journal, “brings into the light of cur- rent news one of the specially rich but s developed and little known regions of the earth. Its mineral wealth alone would make Manchuria s land of promise. * * ¢ Such a country is certain to be a theater of rivalry and contest as long as its control is undetermined. * * * The key to it is the raflroad system, 3,500 miles in ex- tent, for control of which Chins and Russia are contending.’ “All the trouble has been caused by tent ,breach of faith of the oA ing up to the seirure of the railway |l treaty | ghouts: country. The railroad of many battles | demned Soviet legders and .their agents” as serts the Santa Barbara Daily News, while the Oklahoma City Times, ob- serving that “neutral opinion is that | both China and Russia have violated * | the railway agreement,” further con- tends that “there is no doubt that Rus< sians have spread Soviet propaganda among the Chinese. and this Red threat is resented by the present dominant government. of China.” The South {Bend Tribune holds that “Chini | diplomatic position appears to be the |least tenable,” though it asks, “Which is the aggressor?” “A_war with China now, necessarily | & blobdy one,” in the judgment of the Syracuse Herald, “would be accepted by all the outside civilized world as con- clusive proof that Soviet Russia, so far as her government is concerned, has | not_ceased to be barbarian. . Louis Times warns: glanee of Nippon s watching ry move which may develop. Japan has views as to future rule of Manchuria | which she has confided to no one.” Uncertainty as to who is the ag- gsser is expressed by the Chicago ily News, though the serious of the propaganda charges is conceded. ‘The restraining influence of the White Russians in Manchuria is pointed out by the Long Beach Press-Telegram. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle insists that neither nation “can afford at this time to defy the opinion of the civilized world.” The Dayton Daily News ccn- | cludes that “it would be as silly and | criminal to start killing over this rail- | road row as to start killing over a dis- puted board bill.” 1 Drawi & lesson from the present situation, the Cleveland News states hat “wise citizens of this country will properly conclude that national safety must depend indefinitely on adequate military and naval defense.” The Chi- | cago Daily Tribune also emphasizes the th it will be the end of our sian-owned Chinese Eastern Raliway. | &¥ power to defend our rights. Omaha World-Herald concludes: "For € little while we are made aware sgain it may become menacing.’ B ‘Mob’ and ‘Lynch Law’ In U. S. Are Compared From the New Orleans Item. Nebraska supplies another illustration of the difference between lynching in> the South and race riots in the North. Lynching is despicable—an abomina- tion. Innoeent victims have often been done by mobs to horrible deaths. But the Southern mob, usually inflamed by a crime, vents its passions on per- petrator, or the person it thinks to S the perpetrator. The Northern mob, on the other hand, under same circumstances, often turns against the whole race. and no man or woman with & blaek skin is safe. Remember ! X i the Chieago riots, and a dozen oth: examples. A North Platte Negro killed a police- man. The white people were ug.in arms almost in ‘Th n- dled many. town Tyneh them all!” and “Run, them out of town!"™ And they issued an ultimatum that the 200 or more in the town get out within two hours and not come back under rmlty of death. Practically all “got.” They know that however innocent of any crime they might be, their mere color con- them in the eyes of that bleod- . All that the authorities could or would do was to help them get away. This is no isolated case. The same happened in other Northern towns and cities. Where any number of .colored persons settle lluu Tagial friction usuall If it develops slowly enoug! in demand for segrogation laws sim- llar to those found necessary in ths, iwg: gut whgn it 1drveln‘)ps lud-z nly, when mob pass aflame, then mob wrath is misdirected against t‘. race instead of the . i