Evening Star Newspaper, August 10, 1929, Page 4

1 THE EVENING STAR — Wik Sundsy Morning Ediiien. WASHINGTON, D, C. SATURDAY.....August 10, 102 THEODORE W. Ni The Evening Star Newspaper 11th 8t et Penmivivanta Ave. Qfl:.n 110 New Yor 42nd w Chicago ke Buil al. ropeal : 14 Rei it London, e Rate by Carrier Within the Ciy. ‘The Evening Star............. 45c per month The Evening and Sunday Star (when 4 Sundays) ‘The Evening and Su ‘hen 5 Sundays) ‘The Sunday Star otaiied e NAtional 5000. 65¢ per month the entry of the United States into the | chieftains of slum sreas. That is the World War. He attacked in his news- paper and in his speeches the war and the part the United States was playing 9|in it. For these attacks he was in- dicted and sentenced by Judge Kene- NOYES. . ..Editor |saw Landis to serve 20 years in jall. The sentence was imposed in 1919, but Company | two years later the Supreme Court of the United States reversed the lower court, In the meantime, Mr, Berger had been elected to the House again for the Sixty-sixth Congress. That body by resolution in 1919 declared him not entitled to take his seat. Efforts were 60c per month | made to elect another man, but with- out success and Mr. Berger was re- V8o percony | elected to the Sixty-eighth and Sixty- i 3?‘1".1':'13-"-':"-‘ ninth Congresses. Twice again the House declined to seat him. But in the Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. ' |end he was given his seat. His last Daily and Sunday. Dally only Bunday only . All Other States and Canada. Dally and Sunday..1 yr. yal Maryland and Virginia. 1yr. 9 i m . 1 Dindes"omis + 3800 1 men Member of the Associated Press. ;The Assocl to the use for atches credi ted in this paper published herein. A special dispatche: cation of all news dis- or not otherwise cred- and siso the ioval news 11 rights of publication of republi to 1t The Hague. s herein are also reserved. | few in number. election was to the Seventieth Congress. He failed of re-election last Fall. ‘The Milwaukee Representative was one of the strong figures in his party— 1200: 1 mo. $1.90 | particularly so because he was suc- B80c | cessful in bringing the party to the fore in his own district and in having ated Press 1s exclusively entitled | himself elected to the National Con- gress. Other men were eolected as Soclalists to sit in that body—though Mr, La Guardia, at present & Republican member of the House and the Republican candidate It is & fair and true observation to|for mayor of New York, was elected make, as 8 preface to comment upon | at one time as a Socialist member. Mr. Snowden’s position anent the Young | But today the Socialist party has no plan in the conversations now being | representative in Congress. Mr. Berger, carried on at The Hague, that the as he was the first Socialist to come to United States is not in the most ad- | Congress, was also the last—up to the vantageous position imaginable to lec- | present time. What the future holds ture the British as to their obligations | in store for the Socialist party in this in the international quest of a solu-| country only the future can disclose. tion of any problem arising from the So far it has been one of the minority World War. Rightly or wrongly, our parties, which have flowed and ebbed own country has consistently displayed a | and flowed again in this country. devotion to so-called self-interest which would make any suggestion that unsel- fishness be the role of another seem, ] An Ocean Battle. It is & merry battle that is being upon its face, the epitome of presump- | ;9004 on the heaving Atlantic these tion. But, with this said, there are fac- days, although it has its sad aspects to tors in the equation at The Hague| epfaring men who love their ships. which so distort the superficial parallel | mor more than twenty-two years the as to make it possible to say this: Mauretania has reigned supreme for The traditional policy of Grest Brit- | sneed among the liners that cross the ain has ever been for cONLnUitY of | ocean. Never was its record seriously foreign policy. ‘The so-called Young|threatened. Faster ships have been dis- plan was drafted in joint conference|cyssed by builders, but ne faster ship by & committee of experts, including|challenged successfully the old Cunarder eminent representatives of the Baldwin | n gctual competition. The speed erown regime. It was signed by those ex-|seemed beyond reach for present-day perts, presumably with the approvaligning and each vear: that passed added of the government which preceded the |y, the proud bearing of the Mauretania. present Labor party in office. By that signature Great Britain, according to 1ts | ynexpected happened, Some two weeks, ago, however, the A new ocean traditions, established a foreign policy | greyhound set out from France, with 10 be continued by succeeding min-|jjle ostentation but great determina- istries. tion. Even when the Bremen, the ‘That the British should repudiate|siest product of the Germans, logged that policy in subsequent negotiations|mjieage nearly as great as the Maure- is, of course, perfectly possible. Bub| tania had ever done on its first day that they should do so, aware of the| g,y nothing much was thought about it. preponderant adverse sentiment to the | ne next day the world began to take position to which they would thus be|notice. The Bremen passed the mark committed, would be—the political 5| or the Cunarder. It began to look then well as the economic exigencies in the|gs 4r the twenty-two-year-old record gase taken into consideration—patently | wouiq fall, and fall it did, two days @isadvantageous to their own interests. |jqter when the German liner flashed France, Italy, Germany and Belglum | paet Ambrose Light Ship, eight hours are all on the other side of the fence— ahead of the best crossing of the each refusing to reopen hazardous nego- | yrayretanta. tiations which led to a hard-won com- 1t was a sad shock to those who loved promise to which responsible British |y, «olq queen” of the seas. For twenty- signatures are afixed. The potential|yo, years her supremacy was undis- loss incident to assuming responsibility for the breakdown of the vital current conversations surely outweighs any pos- sible gain. Confidence in the diplomatic sagacity of & nation famous for that quality prompts the belief that at the eleventh hour the “ultimatum” of Mr. Snowden will be sltered to such an ex- tent as to save the interests of the nation he represents and the economic stability of the continent in which Great Britain plays so vital and so justly important a role. . London soclety is reported to be agitated because an American who has become a British “merchant prince” attains membership in the Royal Yacht. In the face of all the clamor it may be assumed that the Prince of Wales preserves his habitual suavity and does not appear to care a rap. —————— ‘The Graf is off on another air voyage. A few more trips will give it the reliability for schedule that used distinguish, in & far humbler way, the | The old accommodation train as it went | SOsS from village to village, o Victor Berger. Victor Berger was the first Soclalist, elected as a Socialist, to sit in the House of Representatives. He was an organizer of the Social Democratic 1o | fdctory for a twenty- puted, her glory undimmed. Yet & new- comer on her maiden voyage, with no regard for age or tradition, blithely step~ 'ped out and took the erown. Certainly a bad state of affairs. A lesson should be taught to this young upstart. E Accordingly, & few days ago the Mauretania set out in & valiant attempt to regain the record. And a valiant attempt it was, although an unsuccess- ful one. When the Mauretania steamed past Ambrose Light Ship yesterday, she had completed the fastest crossing in her career. She had clipped off more than four hours from her previous record, but, and this is what hurt most, she was stiil three hours behind the mark set by the Bremen. As her captain so succinctly said, “There is life in the old girl yet.” She proved it by setting the high average of nearly 27 knots across the Atlantic, which, although approximately one knot less than the Bremen, is eminently satis- three-year-old ship. Bremen will be making another ing soon and, now that her new crown has been so seriously challenged, will probably attempt to better the world's record. It is unquestionably true that the malden trip of the German liner was made under ideal conditions. 1t is likewise true that the Mauretania’s four-hour improvement on its best record was made under adverse weather party in 1898—known since 1900 as the conditions. Both ships will undoubtedly Socialist party in this country. When he was first elected to Congress in 1910, there was consternation in some quar- ters. His election, it was feared, was only the forerunner of the election of other Soclalist members of the House, and perhaps of the Senate. But the ! growth of the Socialist party up to the present time has not been such as to cause grave alarm to the other political parties or to the great mass of people who differ from the Socialist in principle. The World War, perhaps, was a stumbling block in the pathway of the Socialists. Nevertheless, the Socialist party polled its largest vote in the election for President in 1920, when the candidate of the party, Kugene Debs, recelved 919,799 votes, At the same time Harding, the Republican, was recelving upward of 16,000,000 votes and his Democratic opponent, Cox, had more than 9,000,000. Four years later the Socialist party largely gave its sup- sort to the candidacy of the late Sena- tor La Follette in the presidential race. Last year the Soclalist candidate, ‘Thomas, had 267,420 votes, although the greatest popular vote in the history of the country by many millions was polled in that election. And now Victor Berger, one of the organizers of the Socialist party and one of the few who succeeded in bring- ing about Socialist control in his own community, i dead. His memory is honored in Milwaukee. Many of those ‘who served with him in the House will regret and be eaddened at the passing of the genial, kindly and, withal, capable and clever Victor Berger. He was born in Austria-Hungary in 1860 and came to this country eighteen years later with his parents and to Milwaukee in' 1880. There he taught school, became an editor and a publicist. He was imbued with the principles of soclalism and ‘became one of its chief exponents in this country. His following grew: in Milwaukee, where his newspapers were read more and more. And finally it ‘became possible to elect & Socialist mayor of Milwaukee and to send Ber-| ger to Congress in 1910, Mr. Berger was try again, and if the Msuretania should encounter ‘s “mill-pond” ocean, the “old girl” may make it interesting for the “flapper” from Germany. It is a battle well worth watching. ———————— Players have to deal with so many organizations that an actor must begin to feel that he is liable to be punished for almost any offense except bad acting. — The reduction of size in paper money was discreetly managed. The bills are still large enough not to be mistaken for obsolete cigar store coupons. The Gangster. An adequate understanding of the so- called “crime wave” requires an under- standing of the personality of the “gangster,” his psychological make-up and the conditions responsible for his existence. . Working in_that great laboratory of criminology, the eity of Chicago, John Landesco, research director of the American Institute of Criminal Law, has gone far toward such a funga- mental comprehension. He has learned of the gangster from gangsters them- selves, their families, their neighbor- hoods, their schools and their churches. Mr. Landesco finds that the two ‘most .prevalent popular conceptions are wrong, ‘The gargster is not a weak youth who has become the victim of evil associates. Nor is he a vicious in- dividual waging a vindictive war on society. He is & very ordinary fellow with the inevitable human mixture of good and bad qualities—“the natural product,” says Mr. Landesco, “of his environment—that is, of the slums of our large American citles.” These slums, he points out, are the first homes of immigrant groups.. Some families prosper and move to better sections. Only the unsuccessful are left behind. Their children grow up with only two models of success—the gangster and the politiclan. The brighter oriés naturally aspire toward these feudal THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON. D. C., SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 19%9. whole story. “The good citisen,” says Mr. Lan- desco, “has grown up in an atmosphere of obedience to law and respect for it. The gangster has lived his life in a region_of law-breaking, graft and ‘fix- ‘That is why the good citizen and the gangster have been unable to understand each other. They have been ing’ reared in two different worlds.” The boy in the “gangster” district has the same tendency to become a 'nnmr as the boy in & farming dis- It is He is not a congenital criminal. He is not particularly cruel or ruthless. Often trict has to become a farmer. the line of least resistance. he is & very likable fellow. Mr. Lan- desco confessed & real affection for some of the gangsters with whom his work bas brought him in contact. ‘The vital point of attark, he points out, is the slum itself and the proper method is to raise its moral and intellectual level through schools, 50 often they have been in the past, thelr work will be practically worthless. —_— et Dangerous Posts. | State, War and Navy Department. The gates were removed and sent to Spiegel the Hayes Memorial in Ohio. Col. U. 8. Grant, 3d, in asking per- mission from Congress to send these gates to the Hayes memorial, also asked for an appropriation for the re- moval of the posts. Congress falled to grant this appropriation and the posts have remained a menace to both pedes- trians and motorists ever since. At the present time this avenue is more or less a thoroughfare, being used by all kinds of motor cars, including big busses. During the rush hour of a recent morning one of the busses going north on Executive avenue atruck the post on the east side of the street and came very near upsetting. The posts are massive and obscure the vision of both motorists and pedestrians and should either be removed or the street closed to public use as far as motorists are concerned. This street originally was for the private use of officials of the White House and State, War and Navy. Old ‘Washingtonians remember when these gates used to be closed and the public prohibited. Today the cars of the ‘White House officials and employes line the east side of the street afil the west side is lined with cars in official use by members of the State, War and Navy Departments. ‘When a car backs out from the curb, traffic is tied up for the moment, but even this brief delay causes a traffic jam. “There is always more or less traffic on this avenue all during the day, but during the morning and afternoon rush hours it is impossible to get through this street without many stops, because at the Pennsylvania avenue entrance there is & crossing policeman directing trafic both ways and because of the thousands of Government clerks,. Why not remove these unsightly posts or close this street to public use before a fatality occurs? e It is made apparent by Mrs, Wille- brandt that she fell into & tough job, but in all political loyalty did her best to like it. et Virginia voters ha long since demonstrated their sense of freedom from obligation to vote one way all the time. J e — China and Russia may be persuaded to study the methods and events of the “World War”—and hesitate, It is an axiom of finance that it is impossible to guess the stock market. But nobody believes it. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Ghost Writers. 1 wonder at the polished phrase A base ball player shows— 1 marvel at poetic ways The pugllists disclose; And since a genius is explored, I am convinced, almost, He gets himself a ouija board And does things with a ghost. I wonder at each bold athlete, ‘Who writes for passing gain, ‘When he's expected to compete And ought to rest and train. I once all superstition spurned And scorned the goblin hosts, But recently my views have turned— I now believe in “ghosts.” In Favor of the Talkies. ‘wWhat do you think of talking pic- tures?” Sorghum. “I have made several things. If I had been speaking from the photographic scteen, such inter- ruptions would hot have made the slightest difference.” Jud Tunkins says the man who stands on the street corner talking politics isn't | ;1o the one who gets the roll-top desk and the swivel chair. Commercialization. Alas, the days of fine romance With passing tfme have little chance! The locomotive, once so strange, Now figures on the Stock Exchange; The aviator. brave and proud, - ‘Will seem when flying through a cloud An engineer with patient cares, While a conductor counts the fares. Handling a Crasher. “Didn't T tell you not to invite that man to our house?” “I didn't invite him,” answered Miss Cayenne. “He's a professor of physical culture and defied the servants.” “What are you going to do about it?” “I'm going to take training from him until I feel sufficiently athletic to throw him out.” “Too often,” sald Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “we find more cause for & new hatred than reason for an old friendship” The New Infinitesimal Flivver. The coming “fifvver” will be small. ‘We'll ‘hardly notice it at alll Perhaps, that we may. see it pass, We'll need a magnifying glass! _“It's & purty good 103 ter,” Ungle Even, “dat is a8 churches, community centers, etc. But 1f these are of the patronizing type, as Beveral years ago Congress author- ized the removal of the big gates at the entrance of Executive avenue running between the White House and the Grove to be placed at the entrance of “They are fine” declared Senator speeches where the audience threw BY CHARLES We never realized the importance of doors in dramatic art until we got to reading the collected plays of Ferenc Molnar as issued in one stupenduous volume by the Vanguard Press. In such plays as “The Lawyer,” never produced in this country, and “The Devil,” the title role played by the inimitable George Arliss, ordinary doors take on something of the heroic. It is this door, and that door, and | the little secret door, covered with wall mr. that give the surprise to en- and exits. People do come in and out of doors in every day life, but surely they do not do it so appropriately as on the stage. In life we forget our door, but in the theater, and especially in the play as reading matter, we are door-conscious, as it were, On the stage, doors become almost actors. If it were not for this door, and that door, and especially that lit- tle secret door covered with wall paper, the very ramifications of the plot would die a natural death. ‘The audience does not know it, and perhaps the playwright did not realize it, but the seats would be fillled with terribly bored spectators if it were not for the opening and shutting of doors. Just as the lover approaches the shy maiden, intent on planting a kiss upon her ruby lips, the door opens and the father stands there to receive the impact of the ardent young man. ‘The laughing audience gives the credit to the actors, or even to the author, but all the time he should give it to the doors. EE Doors do have little ways of their own of opening and shutting at the wrong time. Sometimes their yawning depths almost seem to laugh at the world, just as a closed door presents a hard face to those outside. A door, to a household cat, is simply s let and hindrance, as they used to say. It is & mysterious blocking of a wall, with its most important part the 0b. A human hand on the knob, as every cat knows, means the solving of the durable mystery, the door. A hand on the knob, and somehow the wall opens and a fellow may go out. When the evening comes and the shadows descend and all the world beckons, a cat goes to the door, where it sits looking up at the knob. 1Its green eyes look searchingly at the knob, which its paws may touch, but ;lthout any hope of solving the mys- TY. A rattling of the key beneath the knob is a satisfactory feline method of calling human attention to the need of to go to the door and rattle the door knob would discover that he had touched a deeply human chord. As far as we can recall, however, neither Shakespeare nor Ibsen nor Rostand nor Molnar ever used the cat for any such trick. L ‘The purpose of the door is three- fold. It opens to let one in. it opens to let one out and it remains closed to_keep others out. ‘Thus the door may be sald to have its active and its passive phases just like a human being, with this differ- ence: ‘Whereas most humans must either go forward or backward, according to egress. A dramatist who could teach a cat | .THIS AND THAT E. TRACEWELL. rWIlhr belief, a door often performs ts best work when it remains still. Opening or closing is not always i's most important function. Sometimes s door does its best by a family when :lluuy; lhll::; mo‘ t: l:lm::,tnow gof out atyle, nt on kufinl his own flesh and blood into the street, is ke, door can be held closed. The closed door keeps many s family “row” safely 'on ice, where it may cool off at peace without either the stares or doubtful hel, ‘The closed door hel thwart, whether of a felonious or social nature. 1f the door is closed it becomes part of the wall, and what goes on behind walls is nobody's business. The closed door is the symbol not only of exclusiveness, but of the true privacy which makes up the peace and quiet of home life, Nothing is more hospitable than the widely :gened door held s0 by the hand of e hostess. Even the most careless and indifferent persons usually feel that the door should be opened by the owner. “May we come in?” is the usual in- quiry. The sanctity of the home extends to—in fact, begins at—the front door. That is why the habit, unfortunately growing, of “running in” without the formality of ringing the bell or waiting for the door to be opened from within, is wrong in theory and practice. Even the best of friends should respect the innate privacy of human character. Even the smallest house may be a castle if every one has the castle idea. * kK K The lock and key, therefore, mot the knob, may be said to be the vital portions of the door. Even the hinges play a secondary part in the drama of the doorway. 1t is at precisely this point that real life differs from the artificiality of the stage. The most superficial difference is the pat answer which every actor gives, as contrasted with the halting, lame, often unwanted, answers of every- day life. On the real human scene even the brightest persons are forever saying the wrong thing, or giving an answer which an hour later they could im- measurably better. On the stage, how- ever, the clever Dr. Miller always says ;l;e very thing to “bring down the use.” In such little things as doors the stage exalts an ordinary portion of a house to almost a dramatic role. There the hinges become the important thing. ‘The stage door permits exits- and en- trances. It is scarcely ever closed to remain so, but must remain in a swing- able state, in order that the heroine may bounce in just in time to catch the hero kissing the chambermaid. “I haven't seen Nellie in 10 years, but here she comes now.” said the old- time melodrama actor, and. sure enough, there came the beautiful Nell, walking through the paper snowstorm around the church corner. Ordinary stage doors have something of that same quality of the magical about them. The all too clever play- wright somehow knows just when we, his audience, will want a certain char- acter to appear, or, at the far remove, just when we will have been lulled to rest and will least expect the entrance of said character. ‘The duty of the door, at such a crisis, is to swing and to permit him to come in. Then we are satisfied, tickled with that cleverness, at once spurious and genuine, which is forever the paradox and delight of the theater. Desert Tragedy A tragic reminder that spats still exist within the borders of the United States untouched by the safeguards of clvilization is found by the press in the story of an entire family perishing from thirst when its automobile broke down in the California desert. - 2 “The wiping out of this family warning not to be misunderstood.,” vises the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. ““Wh ever imagines that the automobile has terminated American desert perils is gravely mistaken. Far south of ‘Death Valley' is the little-used road between El Centro, in Imperial County, and Blythe, in Riverside County. A spur of the San Bernardino Mountains to be crossed. Travelers are warned against taking this road. There is no water on most of the route. And, of course, there is no game and no source of other food. The tourist in limousine or flivver must depend on his own re- sources. He is better off, so far as thirst goes, than the ox team pioneers, for their is water in the radiator. He is worse off as regards food, for, unlike the oxen, the automobile cannot be eaten in any emergency. A complete breakdown of a motor car at any point in the Palo Verde section of Riverside County lml’z mean death for all the persons it is carrying. any so-called roads of that sort,” comments the San Antonio Even! News, “are unmarked from end to end. Signs cost comparatively little, and in regions where rainfall is light they last for years, if well made. This tragedy should arouse authorities in thinly set- tled districts to provide better guldes for travelers than ordinarily are found away from main highways. Ironically enough, the seven persons who perished 80 mfunbly ‘were not far from the Col- orado of the West—a stream alw: flowing, although it traverses a partic- ularly barren region between the Blythe area and Yuma, Ariz." * %k k¥ “The automobile clubs” says the Santa mrunhmuy anwi. dlu\: l:rauedl frequent warn against dese: avel Jleq Summer exe':m along the beaten tracks. In any case, desert travelers will do well to carry with them ample: ‘water supplies for use in case of emer- gency. modern automobile is as nearly trouble-proof as machinery can be, and, ht, it will here on the desert ith unwnlgl‘: :nn{e:y. But those inex- perienced desert . conditions and travel cannot afford to take chances, even with these efficient machines. At least they should provide all the pos- sible saft against disaster if they must go the untraveled portions of desert.” he days of ox and horse drawn ,” the Schent Te- 5 i s e or fal , Or evel 3 m}l in the deserts of our Far West. Long journeys To those of us who have thought that with the advent of trains and of auto- mobiles the old days were forever past the Imperial Valley tragedy comes as & reminder that we are mistaken. * Irrigation has worked wonders in the arid regions near the Pacific. Im- nding and distribution of ‘water have ?3-‘-'...« ‘barren plains into fertile fields, yet behind all this death still lurks, ready to pounce U PO dage o1 e e as it did in the ear! lays o S public. We have progressed f but much remains to be done.” trange twist to our pride h & that which ar, of Ketchin' o' & chicken.” s with ordinary care and fore- |, Recalls Perils Hidden in Barren Spots of West burning sun, the mother following him, covey of ‘quails before the the heat. * * * On a side trail, out of reach of the great current of travel, their motor died. Then came proof that when their inventions and appliances are gone men are still only frail human beings. They were as helpless as be- fore automobiles and airplanes. They felt the same hunger. They suffered from the same thirst. They died in the same agony as ploneers knew in days when skeletons whitened along the path to the Golden West.” “Long distances do not bother us to- day if we desire. to reach certain places,” the Anniston Star observes, “and we are now closer to the Pacific Coast, in terms of the time required for the trip, than we once were to points in our own section of the country. Yet, as this unfortunate incident in Califor- nia proves, it is possible for a motorist to find himself stranded too far from human help to save his life and to suffer a fate similar to that which sometimes befalls aviators.” The Belolt Daily News concludes that man has not yet “tamed the ruder forces of his environment” and is “just about as much at the mercy of the elements as the plodding pioneer.” Zeppelin World Tour Shows Builders’ Spirit From the Boston Evening Transcript. By airship against seaship Germany seems almost to be waging war with herself. No sooner does the Bremen come pushing past Ambrose Light with a new speed record for westward con- %uelt of the Atlantic than the Graf eppelin roars into Lakehurst as though specially intended to remind the Amer- ican public that the Bremen's crossing was not so fast, after all. The great new steamer’s time was bettered by 20 hours, even though the Zeppelin, “de- touring” over Gibraltar to avoid strong head winds in the north, came by a course 1,500 miles, longer than the grel’:-en‘l route from Cherbourg to New ork. Even so, the margin of time-saving is not large enough to be of much avail. $500 as the normal average fare for the Bremen against the $2,000 rate on the Zeppelin, the 20 hours gained cost each the airship $1,500, or $75 an hour. This scale is obviously a bit too steep to be called ocompetitive. The com) tion has to be sought in the the novelty, of the Atlant sky itse! m?‘u’:'f’:m ‘ploneers. m”" L wl ig] completing this fresh, successful at- tempt to drive across the Atlantic so soon after the failure of the previous effort, which might well have discour- aged hearts less strong and ambitions not so determined. n ter-than-air craft has ever gone roun ST Sone o the |lnbe.m:l‘l the Graf acoomplish s amazing flight In the stages planned—Lakehurst to Friedrichshafen, ':"Tnkln. to Los An- l?'fi ey tionably deserve rank eat unques rve as one of the most impressive events of the within bounds if the |4 finally the children scattering as a | at terror, | all | Caesar, Attila the to Lakehurst—the | 10 ! THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover y Whether & piece of authentic ex- perience or a literary hoax, “The Cradle of the Deep,” by Joan Lowell, gives a picture of life on a sailing schooner not altogether attractive, especially for & girl. The author telis of her being taken by her father, cap- tain of a four- windjammer They called me the lick of the pan be- cause I was last and not much of me. No one expected me to grow up, but father said: ‘This is the last one and I'm going to save it. I'll take it away from the land and let the sea make it the pick of the pupples’ 8o he took me when I was less than a year old and I lived on shipboard until I was 17, and if the sea didn't make me the pick of the mplu, at least it made me the huskiest.” Though the sea seemed to be physically therapeutic for the child, one wonders what it did for her intellectually and socially. The ship was engaged in the copra and sandalwood trade in the SBouth Seas. There were long periods on the sea, with shorter ones on land, at ports which, however interesting to the sall- ors, were not exactly comme il faut for a young lady, but of course she was never a conventional young lady. How her education was carried on, except for the education of dally sea life, she does not tell us, but we take it for granted that in some way she learned to read and write and add a few fig- ures. Her ethical ideas she evidently developed for herself. me up with no creed except fear and respect for the gods that brew the storms and calms. As to God Himself, I can say only that in my early life He and I werg on most intimate terms. I had not half the fear of Him that I had of father. I felt much closer to Him because I could discuss many things with Him that I wouldn't have dered mention to father. He was my friend, confidant and counselor and I always felt that He approved of every- thing I did, and if I felt He disap- proved I would argue until I convinced Him—in my own mind! Our argu- ments and discussions took place at the masthead far above the deck where no one could hear our private con- versations.” * ok k% ‘The dally life aboard the Minnie A. Caine was free from all the elegances which are often irksome to natural young people. Joan was not troubled with hair combing, trimming or curl- ing, and she never had to hunt for her tooth paste, for she brushed her teeth with salt. Her wardrobe gave her no trouble, either for storage or repairs, because she had but one garment, overalls, with rubber boots for rough weather. Her food, after the first few months, was the regular sailors’ diet— salt beef and salt fish, often spoiled; lentils, rice, dried prunes and apricots and duff pudding for desserts. Some- times the food was flavored with the bay rum used freely as a toilet acces- sory by the Japanese cook, and on oc- casion the cook smuggled a cat into the “slumgullion” for the crew in order to save extra salt beef for himself. Joan’s amusements did not include movies, radio, automobiles, tea dances or night clubs. If she played she had to find her own toys and make her own games. At first her playthings were sea birds, toy ships and fishes’ fins, and her favorite game was pre- tending to row in a lifeboat made fast to the deck. “In my lifeboat, strapped to the deck, I used to row away on long picnic trips by myself to places where I would find children to play with; children like I had seen playing around the docks in port. And what games we had! The games played with those imaginary children always in- volved something to eat.” Later she learned to steer at the wheel, pull at the ropes, help man the pumps, and in every way “to obey as a sailor obeys the master of a ship.” With only sailors for associates, it is no wonder that when, at the age of 14 or 15, she was taken ashore by her father to be left with her mother, she did not fit into the scene of the Berkeley home where the captain's wife took col- lege professors as boarders. A young girl who had learned to swear at the age of 2 and whose chief ambition had been to spit tobacco juice through a crack did not meet the approval of academic minds. After she had grab- bed her food sailor-fashion at table and told her mother that “this was a hell of a house because there wasn't a bed- bug or cockroach in it,” the gentle, conventional mother told the father: “You raised her—so perhaps you can discipline her,” and later, “Take Joan back to the sea. She'll fret herself away here.” So back to the sea she went for a few years more. * k¥ % have mentioned him as a landmark in “Our Times” Stanley J. Weyman was writing historical romances in the man- ner of Dumas—"Under the Red Robe,” “The House of the Wolf” and “A Gen- tleman of France.” Mr. Weyman died about a year ago, and after his death his last romance was published, with the glamour of old associations to help it along, “The Lively Peggy.” It is & romance of the Napoleonic wars. The mouth, Devon. The other Peggy of the tale is the daughteer of a Devonshire rector, who falls in love, against her father's wishes, with the one-armed, cashiered navy lieutenant. According to orthodox Weyman tradition, the story ends happily. * kX E “A Modern Plutarch,” by John Cour- nos, is & collection of comparative biog- raphies of prominent persons of the nineteenth century, written about the theme of racial influence on personal- ity. As Plutarch in his biographies analyzed the racial characteristics of o tiose of " Latins andAngl alyzes 0se Of an o~ Saxons. Complex Tn personalities often exhibit conflicting strains different races.. Some of the subjects of bi Oecil Rhodes, As as Alexander the Great and more picturesque than Julius Hun is a figure of romance as well as of history. Coming s, ot o rapidly Ini un - ed attacks of the Germanic tribes to the north, Attils into the racial t—the wild, nomad Huns of Asia. Both Romans and Ger- manic tribes were terrified before this oncoming horde. The story of Attila’ empire is told in “Attila, the Scourge of God,” by Marcel Brion, translated by Harold Ward. Attila built no lasting civilization. His life was spent in con- quest, and at his death his empire col- la) L les encoun lt’mt Russia has captured Chinese-Mongolian trade. * Xk k * ‘The history of a recent fl\uu::‘l “Father brought | w S0 long ago that Mark Sullivan might | secured by & t from | Germany's railroads: ht & new element in ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. This is a special department devoted solely to the handling of queries. This paper puts at your disposxl the services of an extensive organization in Wash- ington to serve you in any capacity that relates to information. This service is free. Fallure to make use of it de- prives you of benefits to which you are entitled. Your obligation is only 2 cents in coin or stamps, inclosed with your inquiry, for direct reply. Address The Evening Star Information Bureau, Pred- . Haskin, director, Washington, Q. To how many countries can Americans go by airpianes?—M. G. A. Foreign countries to the number e now connected with the United . These comprise countries in Central and South America, the West Indies, and Canada. 3. Twhlt is the Hotel des Invalides? A. and soldiers’ home in Paris. It was founded in 1670. / Q. How far below the surface is Echo River in Mammoth Cave?>—C. K. A. 1t is 350 feet under ground. Q. What countries find it unnecessary to take a literacy census?—M. T. A. Neither Switzerland nor Swed takes any cognizance of illiteracy, since they have compulsory education, and enforce the laws so rigidly that it is not necessary to take a census tabulating illiteracy. Qi, th“ makes the wind blow?— A. Wind is air in motion. If all parts of the earth were equally heated by the sun’s rays, the atmosphere would be equally dense and in a state of perpetual calm. It happens, however, that the sun heats certain areas of the atmosphere more than it does others. The heated portions of the air expand and blow out over the cooler areas. The heavy air of the cool areas is no longer held back by the lighter air of the warm areas and rushes in to restore the equilibrium. rotation of the earth on its axis. Q. What States have daylight sav- ing? Does England?—C. F. 8. A. States having daylight-saving laws are Massachuseits and Rhode Is- land. It is observed municipal ordi- nances in New York City, Albany Buffa- lo, Rochester, and s number o] towns. In Connecticut it is also observed locally in some towns, as in Maine, New ‘How much is British bluff and how much real danger lies in the flare-up at The Hague through the ultimatum given by Mr. Philip Snowden, British chancellor of the exchequer, that he will withdraw from the confersnce of the allied nations over the acceptance of the Young plan of collecting and distributing reparations payments from Germany, unless the plan be revised 50 that Great Britain shall receive, if not the “lion's share” a proportion equivalent to the division agreed upon at the Spa settlement of 19202 How much is bluff and bluster, and how much is to be attributed to English home politics, manifested by the recent change in the controlling party in gov- ernment? G At all events, there exists a most serious crisis, which may result in dis- solving the conference and hopelessly killing the Young plan. Five nations in the conference have accepted the plan; only Great Britain complains about the distribution. Furthermore, Mr. Snowden it £0 an- tagonistic that he declares that unless he gets the demanded change, he will not only reject the Young plan, but will also cancel the terms of agreed settle- ment of the debt of France and the other nations owing war debts to Great Britain, and demand full and peremp- tory settlement. * % x % If the Young plan of German ra- tions payment fall to the ground, then the present Dawes plan must continue in force, and it is alleged that the Dawes plan has proved an impossibility since its annual payments, according to Germany’s claims, are found too high for Germany to make. E£he has been able to keep up her payments so far, mainly, or at least largely, by means of new loans from foreign private investors in her securities; that resource is practically exhausted. If the Dawes payments are to be in- sisted upon, will Germany be forced into bankruptcy, with French armies con- tinuing to guard the Rhine, and other military pressure to bear upon her? * x ok % Since Great Britain's complaint lies especially, if not wholly, against the substitution of & new percentage of distribution of German among the creditor nations, in of the Spa proportions, it is important to note what the changes are. Under the Spa agreement, France was to receive, out of the annual pay- ments by Germany, 52 per cent and England 22 per cent. nder the Young plan, France will receive, durin { 1t is the famous military hospital | Thus winds are formed. The direction | of winds is considerably deflected by the | other | der banks and | sy Jersey, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Dela< re, Illinois, “ndiana, Ohio, Michigan nd ' Wisconsin. “Summer time" been in effect in Great, Britain for some years, beginning with the third Sunday in April and ending with the first Sun= day in October, Q, When did Lily Langtry die?— A. Lily Langtry, Lady De Bathe, died Pebruary 12, 1929. LQ Whyia blacksmith so called?— A. The word “smith” means one who works in metal. Iron being black, it is thongh that the word ‘“blacksmith” originated in an assoclation of ideas. Q. Have the Clicquot Club Eskimos ever been in vaudeville>—F. F. A. They appeared in vaudeville in Chicago. Q. Were Negro slaves ever owned in New England?—J, C. M. A. Slaves were owned in New Eng- land. The Fundamentals or Body of Liberties provided for limited abolition jof alavery In Massachusetts. Negro slaves were often to be found in the in- ventory of a New England household in early Colonial days. Q. How much evaporation will fake place on & body of water in a day?— C. W. M. A. During the hot season in India, with hot wind blowing, the evaporation has reached one-half inch per day. Q. What column in an American newspaper corresponds to the English “agony” column?—D. C. A. The personal column of an Amer- ican newspaper carries somewhat sim- flar items to those of the “agony” col- umd of the London Times, but there is no exact equivalent, Q. Which cities in the United States have subweys® Which have elevated roads?—J. J. 8. A. The only cities in the United States that have rapid transit subways are Nev York, Boston and Philadelphis The cities having elevated rallways are New York, Chicago, Boston and Phila- | deiphia. Q. Where was ‘Alfonso of Spain born and of what ancestry?>—V. O. L. King of the name Philip V in 1700. The King of Spain was born at Madrid cn the 17th of May, 1886. BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. | this Government will be out of debt | within the next fifteen years, and can- | not_afford, then, to look down upon | struggling European nations owing us what they will still owe under the termsa of their funded obligations. So we will cancel—perhaps. * * o % ‘The Young plan even envisages just that contingency in & memorandum suggesting an agreement between Ger- many's_ creditors (aiready signed by Great Britain, France, Italy and Bel- gium, but not by the United States), providing that, up to 1966, one-third of any relief which any creditor power may effectively receive in respect to its outward payments on account of “war debts” shall be enjoyee Dy that power, and two-thirds shall be passed on to Germany. After 1966, the full amount of any remission is to be passed on to Germany on account of her annuities— her reparation payments. In plain English, if, before 1966, the United States should reduce Frances debt by, say, $3,000,000,000, then France must credit $2,000,000,000 on her claim against German reparations. If we wait until 1967, and France has delayed her | own payments or repudiated them. and | we then forgive $3,000,000,000, it will all | be applied to reduction of what Ger- many will then owe France. In short. the “Shylock” of 1929 shall be the goat of 1967, so that everybody will be happy. Luckily, as we have not become a party to such an agreement, there is not the slightest obligation that we shall ever become such. * % % x | In his flery speech at The Hague con- ference on the Young plan, this weex, Mr. Snowden undertook to illustrare how Shylockian the United States set~ tlement with Great Britain had been, ying: “Great Britain owed America slightly less than 1,000,000,000 pounds ($5.000.- 000.000), for which she must pay over a period of 62 years an aggregate of about $11,000,000,000." ‘The exact indebtedness of Great Britain to the United States, June 30, 1919, was $4,277,000.000 and when the debt was funded. some years later, ac- crued interest brought it up to $4.600.- 000,000. She settled in that latter amount—not in $11,000,000,000. Of course, if a debt remains unpaid, it continues to accrue interest. If we let Great Britain's debt run a thousand years and she paid only the interest, it would total a good deal more than $11,000,000,000, but what does thet prove? Mr. Snowden's sophistry was rather cheap and befuddling. It is & peculiar kind of financing that counts an option spread over a long period as a hardship. No stipulation bad | exists requiring Great Britain to pav duction of 1% per cent for Great Britain compared with the she has been receiving. P Under the provosed Young plan, the payments are to be divided into two classes. Of each annual payment, 660.- 000,000 marks is payable in foreign currencies unconditionally, without the right of ement. t of that zumu ., 550,000, marks, or $142,000,000, assigned to France. ‘That ‘“unconditional payment” is direct tax on all of all other pay- ments come out of the budget of the Reich, and these latter payments (from the budget) may be appealed special advisory committee of the e ments, whic] to establish. The bank then condition, and, at discretion, ’gnnm: postponement, not uoudm.w g * ok x % It is noted that France is to receive France her settlement funding of to the United States has been a pro- vision that in case Germany defaulted in any of her payments to France, then France should be granted extensions That demaad hax oot becn seunted by Do ted b) nder the Mellon-Berenger settlement of France's debt to the !'Jenl'-ed States, France will have to pay us on her principal of the debt only about half of what she will collect annually from Gerznny from the “unconditional pay- ments.” ‘That settlement has now been ratified French Par] ¥ |'by the long before all payments are made either in the debts due the United States or the international debts be- tween the allies of Europe are paid, the United States, in its 't prosperity 1 itic self going to cancel all balances International bankers in New York as well as Europe continue wl?o&dp:‘;;leud‘ o e ot the presen oul it af rate of reducing our own national debt, mumtmdmm‘m such as Dark, or Neither ‘Wife nor and * 5 gives the history of the ol on the installment plan. She has the privilege of paying spot cash and set- tling the claim on the mathematical basis of “present worth” if she desires. 1In fact. nothing would please “Shylock™ better than spot cash. * k% % Without applying that familiar but rather intricate calculation of “presert worth” to the British debt, the same can be applied to one dollar to be paid in 50 years. A dollar promised in 50 | vears, if discounted at 3 per cent, has a “present value” of $0.22810708—a little less than 23 cents. If discounted at 5 per cent, its “present value” is less than 9 cents. Now all the money we raised to loan to the European nations during and since the war cost us about 4 per cent on our Liberty bonds—some more, some less. debtors settle on the basis of about 2 per cent interest, so we lose 2 per cent covering the full 62 years. In short, we lose about 50 cents on the dollar of interest in excess of what interest we pay and what we col- le)e‘k BMI'l,lld we m:m 2 the debtor: who grumble over hun' we permit that they discount, their bills and pay spot cash, with a saving of some 80 cents on the dollar? * k ko For example, the schedule on the Young plan calls for payments by France in the years 1966 to 1987, in- clusive, of a total principal debt, amounting to $1. that were computed worth” basis, discounting the face value At the rate of 3 per cent, it is equivalent to only $468,121,033—about a quarter of the face of the eipal Besides, if cash be paid now in settl ment, there would immense savi of annual interest on deferred pay- ments. If the amount be discounted, at iden~ tically the rate of interest we are pay- ing on our own uun; ‘bonds—4Y, per cent—the $1,802,453,657 could be cashed in for $267,428,824. We could then re- deem our Liberty to that amount, without eost to our own Treasury, and mwzuw-wumm-mu dollars—dollars, not . The same principle to all the other debts due us, on Wi “ ! is so “graspingly” liberal in M”lll?y American financial experts cal ‘Burope unbiased and capable authorities u:u‘