Evening Star Newspaper, September 3, 1929, Page 8

i HE EVENING STA/R, WASHINGTON, .D. C, TUESDA SEPTEMBER 3, 1929. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ). RASKIN. THE EVENING STAR —With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY. .September 3, 1020 . TREODORE W. NOYES. ...Editer ®he Evening Star Newspaper Company 1ith ne BUlnese OMcw: !n'? e 8t and Penns 3 BBt Lake Michitan Rulaie AR 14 ‘Regent 8t.. London, England, Rate by Carrier Within the City. reain Sar R dad mionth Cwnen 4 Bundars) -80¢ per month The Evening and Sun (when 5 Sundaya) The Sunday Ster Colleetion made ai §idors max he cent in Rate by -lli—-—h able in Advance. Maryland and Vir'finh 1 yr., $10.00: Bl sates i manitte AR Other States a th 224 Sund r. nday only ‘1 7r. Member of the Associated Press. 1791 The Associated Press is exclusively te the use for republication of all rew; PpAtches cradited to it or mot otherwise ted 0, this pever and else the iecal rews published he Al rights of publica‘ion ef herein also reserved. | b per © and of rac: thonth. mail or Le.ephone nd Canada. s12 m \ §8.00; 1 m + $6.00; 1 mo. in. apecial dispatches A Show of Civic Defens: Started as a method of advertising the annual base ball game between the two defense departments of the District, the annual firemen’s parade in Washing- ton has become an institution which is highly valued by this eommunity and | by a wide region surrounding the Capi- | tal. Yesterday this procession, viewed by an immense throng of spectators, ‘was in motion for nearly two hours, It was an impressive, colorful and truly inspiring demonstration. ‘was par- ticipated in by not merely a representa- | tion fromi the District Fire Depart- ment, the host of the occasion, but by representatives of seven different States. The immediately adjacent area of what is eoming to be called *he Metropoli- tan-Capital -district sent its best show- ing of firefighters, with a gay accom- paniment of decorations and a lively line of comedy. Taken altogether, it was & most {lluminating demonstration | of the progress that has been made iu | recent years in the civic equipment of | « the cities, towns and villages around ‘Washington. One of the most striking features of | yesterday's pageantry was the evidence | of modern spirit and enterprise in the | equipment of these‘local fire depart- | ments. The latest mechanism prevails. None but the best is good enough for even the smaliest communities, . This is the wisest economy. Fire is the worst enemy that organized soclets faces today, and it can only be fought effectively by efficient means. The old | hand pumper has gone into the museum, to be brought forth only on such ocea- sions as yesterday. The steam pumper | has likewise passed into virtual oblivion. The “fire engine” of standard type and of practically universal use is the motor pumper, which is at once a self-powered vehicle and propeller of water. Year by year these annual Lahor day firemen’s parades in Washington are featured by the presence of the three veteran horses, Barney, Gene and Tom, & few years ago retired from active duty and given honorable and restful ease of life on a District farm. Once a year they are groomed with especial care | and brought up to town and hitched to an old-style steam pumper and tread their mile or so at & slow pace. They are getting rather feeble now, but with | good care they may be saved for an- other ‘decade, to Temind Washington and its neighbors of the “good old days” of galloping steeds answering with al- | most human intelligente to the sound | of the gong. ) Keeping order in the air is a new and | serious responsibility. Col. Lindbergh Is, ready, evidently, to undertake his share of police duty in addition to stunt fiying. N $mith the Builder. Alfred E. Smith is to build the big- gest bullding of them all in New York Oity. In a measure it will stand as a permanent memorial to the man who grew great with Greater New York, | who went from & fish market and the | lower East Side to the governor's man- sion in Albany. The announcement by the former Governor of New York that he is to head & corporation which is to con- | struct a $60,000,000 office building, 1,000 feet high and with twenty more stories than its nearest rival, seems to take him temporarily, if mot permanently, out of the field of politics. As a can- .didate for office it is doubtful that Mr. Smith would be able to divorce himself entirely from politics or that he would ever cease to take a very keen interest in it and public affairs. But there has been widespread in- terest ever since ihe close of the presi- dential campaign last year regarding the future plans of the defeated Dem- ocratic candidate for that high office. At one time he was strongly urged to e a candidate for Mayor of the City of New York, the greatest municipality in the world. But apparently Mr. Smith gave the jdea no encouragement, and an embryonic drive for his election was allowed to die. Other friends suggested he enter the list for a seat in the United States Senate, with Senator Wagner | stepping aside to become leader of Tammany. Now the former governor has definitely committed himself to a snd .concrete construction mammoth buildings spring up in a miraculously short time. The Empire State Bulld- ing, which Mr. Smith’s new corpora- tion is to put on the site of the old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, may well be completed and eccupied long before the would continue strongly in demand as head of the building corporation. If certain elements in the Démocratic party could be assured that this busi- ness venture of Mr. Smith is permanent occupation for the former Democratic candidate for Presidents they -would heave a sigh of relief. But Mr. Smith has never sald that he will not again be a candidate for President. Possibly he has it in his mind and heart never to seek public office again. He has given generously of his most valuable years'to the public service. If it is his intention not to seek office ever again, why, ask some of thé skeptics, does he not say so, in the interest of party harmony? Obviously it would be the part of little wisdom for the former governor to make any statement to the effect that he would never run for President again. Neither he nor any other man can say what conditions will be one,’two, or three years hence. No one can say whether a strong demand for Mr. Smith may not materialize in the pofitical party of which he has been a member ever since he grew to manhood. The late President Roosevelt, on the night after he was elected in 1904, announced he would not seek to succeed himself. It was an announcement that came to trouble him many times thereafter. Former President Coolidge, who de- clared in August, 1927, that he did “not choose to run for President” never said, nor- has he yet said, he would not ac- cept & nomination for President if it were tendered him. Mr. Smith is to be- come 8 builder. That is all there is to be said for the present. emons. A Simmering War. Unconfirmed, though somewhat eir- cumstantial, reports of actual hostilities in Manchuria continue to come out of the East, but there is no authentic news as yet that Russia and China are actually in a state of war. That they are in a state of potential and sim- mering war is undoubted. The elements of & conflagration are present. A tiny spark could ignite them. Matters at the end of lest week | seemed to be verging toward an amica- | ble agreement between Moscow and | Nanking. The Soviet government had agreed to appoint a new general man- ager and assistant manager of the Chinese Eastern Raflway, in place of the officials removed by China on the; ground that they were engineering Communist propaganda in Manchuria. But Moscow accompanied that oon- cession with & demand that China, on her part, should appoint s new Chinese chairman of the rallway board. To this proposal the Nanking authorities vigor- | ousty demurred. They were unwilling | to suffer what they insisted would be an ignominious loss of “face” in their own country. Russia has been con- tending that the Chinese official whom it wants supplanted is chiefly respon- sible for the whole railway imbroglio. To this relatively unimportant stage has the war menace in Manchuris passed. ‘There are, of course, much farther-reaching and more fundamental issues at stake than the identity of the men who shall henceforward manage the Chinese Eastern line. But it is well for the cause of peace in Asia that the aquabble has narrowed down te such & point. The prospects that it can be amieably composed are correspondingly enhanced. China's accomplished minister to the United States, Dr.” Wu, is now in Geneva, as the representative of his country at the League of Nations As- sembly. It is highly probable that he will find occasion to bring the Sino- Russian controversy to the League's attention In casé it is not settled within the month of the Assembly’s session. Between the League's peace-preserving | i machinery and the adherence of both Russia and China to the Kellogg pact, the world has every right to expect that their quarrel will not reach the bofling point of wi As to whether that is an assurance which will hold forever—or for long—one would rather be an historian | th & prophet: for the ways of the Past are mpysterious and mercurial. vttt Edison the Wonder Man, For more than half a century Thomas A. Edison has been a figure before the American people, intimate, close and re- garded with growing affection. He has | become & veritable institution. Despite the Jong lapse of years he has not been viewed as subject to the advance of age, tor he has kept steadily, constantly st work. Time has taken so little toll of him that he has seemed immune to it. The “wizard” of Menlo Park has ear- ried on in his laboratory apparently as industriously during the past decade as 8 quarter of a century ago. He is now eighty-two and & half as the almanac shows, but to the people generally he is still young in spirit and, it would almost seem, in body as well. So it is that the announcement that he has recently been suffering from an sttack of pneumonia, a desperately dangerous disease at best and especially 5o in advanced years of life, comes with a shock. It brings vividiy to mind the fact that Edison is now at the age where ailment may any time carry him over the bourde. But then one knows nothing of the powbr of such an indomitable spirit as his, which may carry him on for another decade. He has livad a remarkable life and he may live to s remarkable age. The statement of his illness is coupled with assurance of his recovery from the present attack, He undoubtedly feels that he has much work yet remaining to do. The true scientist knows that his work indeed is never finished. Great as have beert>the marvels coming the Edison laboratories, in the past fifty or sixty years, there may be even greater to come in the twilight of this wonder- ful life. A good aviator knows net only how te naxt presidential campaign begins in 11932, There is still a lingering belief on the part of many Smith supporters that the former goverror may again enter | the lists for the highest public office in' ' the land. They saw him go into busi- | ness once before after he had- been de- i!nufl for re-election as governor in 1920. He took charge of & trucking business successfully. But two years ["later he was back in the thick of the fray as Democratic candidate, for gov~ ! ersior and was_returned to the execu- tive mansicn in Albany. 1t is probable that & great building corporation, established vto construct the projected Empire State Building, will undertake other great building enterprises if it shakes & success of this venture.. And 4t fs lkely that Mr. Smith's service fiy, but when to use a parachute. The exhilaration of air travel is not allowed to obscure the reajly important con- sideration of making a safe landing. A-Sad Lesson. “ As the snnual “moving season” draws nefr in Washington, when thousands of families will change apartments, or move from house to house, it behooves | all' to keep n mind the sad lesson which comes from Lufkin, Tex, The five children of a widow found, in a_home into which they had just moved, ‘a bottle of poison which ap- oarently had been left by 4 which . previously occupled dren dissolfed the drug in had cach drank o ‘pertion, with the resutt| that three of them died, and two were made seriously ill. ‘The temptation ¢f those who leave one place for another is to forget about the old quarters. It is easier to let the newcomer clean up. All good house- wives, however, like to leave immaculate rooms behind them, just as they prefer to move into a clean new place. The duty of every, homeseeker is to leave the old place in as presentable & condition as possible. The United States Army makes this necessary for its of- ficers, Common sense and ordinary courtesy should make it equally so from civilians one to another. ‘The leaving of huge quantities of trash and junk in basements and attics is yeprehensible to & degree. When one leaves poisons and combustible ma- terials behind, at moving time, he does not leave ah responsibility, too. It is a plain duty of those who go to think of those who will come, and to clean up well before they leave, especially making sure that poisons are disposed of, not left for innocent children to play with. Gil Does Not Choose to Run, As an act of self-abnegation the declaration of President Portes @il of Mexico . that he does not desire pro- longation of his term of office is prob- ably without precedent in Mexican his- tory. Addressing the congress yesterday at the opening of the seasion, the exec- utive, named as successor of President Calles upon the death at the hands of an assassin of the president-elect, Gen. Obregon, made particular point of his desire for a succession of principles rather than of men in Mexican affairs. | Stating eategorically that he does not desire to remain in office after the com- pletion of his provisional term next February, he made the remarkable state- ment that “prolongation of my mandate would bring bankruptcy of the law.” In view of Mexican history during many years this is strange language. It is to be mccepted as sincere. There Is nothing in Gil's record before or since his accession to the presidency to indi- cate otherwise. It is, however, one thing for the exec- utive to announce retirement at the close of his “mandate” and to invoke the orderly processes of presidential election, and quite another thing to in- sure the effective working of those proc- esses and the tranquil expression of popular will at election time. There are already signs of bitter rivalry and of intrigue for the succession. It may be that despite his declaration of desire to leave the office President Gil may be not, it would seem, announced himself quite as categorically as did President Coolidge in his famous ten-word state- ment of 1927, and it will be remem- bered that even “I do not choose to run for President in 1928” left the question sufficiently open for several months te Tequire additional negation for full conviction. It will be inter- esting to observe whether President Portes Gil finds it necessary to repeat or emphasize his abnegation. ———rate— Palestine newspaper: permitted to resume publication and public interest i may find relief in the opportunity to forget, momentarily, controversial per- plexities and return to the cross-word pusele. 5 et Tabor day brought out some splendid pageantry, appealing not only by in- | trinsic beauty but as an evidence of that | most valuable civic influence, pride in chosen occupation. o The law of averages asserts itself in climate. After a chilly August, Septem- ber provided sudden eneoursgement for the straw hat market. r—o————— A popular President when he goes out of office becomes & favorite of the maga- #ines and need not fear oblivion so long s he has his trusty typewriter. —or—s Brooklyn boy who has qualified as & bulifighter is getting much better re- sults in the Spanish arens than the bears have been getting in Wall Street. S e A, Assassination has asserted itself as & factor in Chinese politics. Cowardice as well- as courage is called into action when war is undertaken. ———————————— | Ovations to Snowden are reminders ot the old remark that peace has its victories. = o As he goes from place to piace, Trotsky continues to assert himself as & movie and a talkie. ———- SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOMNSON. Holiday. " Labor dey used to 3 “Let's take time to shirk; For a while we'll all be gay, Then we’ll go to work.” Labor day! Op your way! ‘We must learn anew, Since a glorious display There is work to do! Same OM Story. “pid you enjoy your vacation trip?” “Rather,” answered Senator Sorghum. “Get some new ideas?” “No. Arrived at the conclusion that goif in one part of the country is pretty much the same s in another.” ’ Jud Tunkins says & dollar bill be- gins to look so liitle that he wouldn't be surprised if in & few years it was trom | rated merely as car fare. ‘Motorially Speaking. Seems that on & holiday Everything goes wrong! Natural Grace. “Your daughter is natural fult” : § “Yes. Whenever she swats a fly, you'd think she imagined she was Helen wills” iR “Avarice,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “leaves & man sadly over- burdened with things he cannot hope te enjoy.” ; K lly grace- “drafted” for the regular term. He has | o, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. “I eount only sunny hours.” i —Sundial motto, ‘The bird bath, the pool and the sun- ?hl:lmfl.humnmzmhmmln modern en, ing & poor third place, but there is no reason why this picturesque old instru- ment should not stand first. Yet it has been neglected and one will find & hundred bird baths to one sun- dial in city gardens, and t as many Nly 3 mam is not exciting enough to suit temperament. Maybe its mottoes, since earliest times an inseparable part of it, one witlf its time-telling qualities, are of necessity too stald, too moral, too grave to suit us b !ho 80 pride ourselves on being A ite motto, however, is the ‘The fa one quoted above, and surely it is gay and joyous enough for any one. Prob- ably the reason why it is found upon 80 many sundiais today is just because of its optimism. Some of the old mottoes, on the other hand, use the very fact of the dial's uselessness in .the night to point out moral lessons to humanity. One motto is taken from Ephesians, iv.26, “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” ‘The answer of the carefree modern would be that there is no occasion for this, because he is not at all wrathful and therefore is under no necessity of helntremlndu constantly of something whiel he does not possess. * o % % A variation of the motto given at the head of this celumn is, “I count not the hours unless they be bright” (Horus| non numero nisi serenus). Most of the | mottoes on modern sundials are either in English or Latin. Dials came to English-speaking nations through the Romans, who in turn got them from the Greeks. ‘The Greeks got them from their East- ern neighbors. Sundisls were known to the tians, Chaldeans and the Hebrews. From the thirty-eighth chap- ter of Isalah, eighth verse, comes the following: “Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees which is gone down in the sundial of Ahaz ten de- rees backwards.” That was about 700 X and ever since then the sundial rnished a pleasantly complicated matter of speculation for mathematical- minded persons. Those who are not of such a nature simply accept the sundial as a pleasant plece of garden furniture, so led, one which graces & yard and furnishes a small amount of amusement to children and their parents and friends. ok ox Children always are interested in ndials. They may be seen any day amining the one on the hill the south side of the lion house at the National Zoological Park. There is something about a sundial which execites the imagination of boys and girls. Perhape it is its primitive form, harking back to the days when mankind had a small body of assembled re. Experimenting with the inclination of the “style” of the sundial must have been one of the first outdoor sports of man, Even before the earliest astrono- mers put their minds to it, men had discovered that an upright pole in the earth, with a eircle around it on the ground marked off with stones at in- tervals, could tell them the time of da: Later the astronomers fixed the i clination by calculation. Amateur | maghematicians atill can get a great deal of pleasure in doing their own cal- mlation for the proper placing of & sundial in their own gardens. The Encyel is Britannica gives several pages of directions. guaranteed to be not, understood at ail by those who were not good' at mathematics and algebra in school. RSN ‘Most home cwners who feel the sun- dial coming over them will be satisfled to purchase themselves a plate and gnomon already manufactured. This ean be installed mlllv. enough on a post or column.. The plate must be horisontal, of course, the more so the better, With the sun shining, the op- erator simply turns the dial till the time given by the shadow agrees with a good wa! Such sundial may not be the hel,ht of accuracy, but nome of them is, for that matter. If one wan'a to go into the matter he can do all sorts of caleulations. not only in the making of his own dial and gnomon (the style is in reality the hypotenuse of the triangle formed by the flat piece of trianguiar metal which casts the ), but even more in the orientation of the dial 1 teelf. ‘This is best done, so the books de- clare, by arising at night. when the pole star crossbs the meridian of the place. This time is found by reference to the Nautical Almanac. Two plumb lines are brought into a line pointing to the star at that moment. The dial can then be placed in the same line by daylight. If this means anything to the reader, we are very happv, because it means nothing at all to us. We would be sat- isfled to s sundial as best we could and let it tell time as best it could. A P It is the picturesque quality of the dial, it ancient lineage, which it today. Think of having In one's garden something - which traces back to the eariiest days of humanity! They say that the sundial is still in use in Fgypt, and that the Tu never found s mosque without installing a sun- dial, too. The first Greek sundial was set up in Athens in 433 B.C. by the as- tronomer Meton. Romans, who made the most of the instrument, got it from the Greeks. It is curious how we of today associate the old-time teller 50 closely with the Romans. Most of the dials furnished ready-made have either the English or Roman inscrip- tion, “I count only sunny hours.” There is something barbaric about a sundial, a hint of sun worship, which ought to go very well with the modern vogue for sunshine and fresh air. The sundial came into being first when Pan was a popular god. Around many a modern dial one expects to see stran, | little elves peep out; this feeling is e hanced if the pedestal is placed amid & planting of iris or some such flower. ‘While one may lament the passing of this earliest of ‘‘watches,” he may rejoice, too, for it gives him an oppor- tunity to put something into his garden which all of his neighbors do not pos- sess. The beauty of the sundial is that one is always likely to have the only one in a community, for it utlerly lacks any appeal to many persons. They see nothing beautiful in it, nor do they care anything for its old associations, or its pleasantly philosophic mottoes. ‘This attitude gives a gardener his op- portunity. He may have something as old as the hills, vet lflllllthl:\e! which s not repeated every fifty feet. Administration’s /On Prison Problem Commended Quick action by the administra in meeting the emergency of ovei crowded Federal prisons is generally commended by the press, although it is recognized that the use of military prisons ean be only temporary, and that the comprehensive building program involving the expenditure of several million dollars must be carried out as promptly as possible. Among those urging caution in the | matter s the New York Sun, which | | says. editorially, in discussing the plan: | “Law officers of the Government should see 1& it that the Army is never even remothly associated with the subterfuge, and they should see to it that the diversion of Army posts to convict pur- poses be terminated at the earliest pos- sible moment. Nothing could be more | detrimental to the morale of the per- | execution of the criminal processes of the Government, and that identification it is the duty of the administration to prevent even at the cost of temporary discomfort to lawbreakers. “Although the Federal program has been described only in brief official statements, which, of course, give only fts bare bones, it is quite enough.” ac- cording to the Detroit News, “to reveal the grave situstion. Prison camps at Army posts and the Army receiving prisons in New York and San Francisco harbors are to be used to their | maximum as permanent prisons until | vast new prison bulldlng are available. Consider that! For ngress cannot validate the new econstruction until next ‘Winter and, assuming its action then, the work cannot be completed for| years. It presses both upon conscience | and purse as urgently as any other question.” “Probably it would be unwise,” sa the San Antonio , “to mix civil- ian and military offenders, and evident- 1y no such move is intended save as & last resort Neither is it proposed that the Army permanently give up the Fort Leavenworth disciplinary barracks. * * * The Government is abont a quarter- century behind with prison construe- tie as with its public buildings ge d during that period convi ve grown five times as fast as population; so it is not surprising that the prisons are overrun. National rohibition is only partially responsible r this condition. The general crime ‘wave,’ the spread of the narcotic evil, migration to the cities and numerous other factors enter into the situatior “In ting the public against eriminals and in (\Infihlnl the guilty for their crimes,” declares the Pasadena Star-News, “there is no excuse for un- sanitary, unhealthful, uncomfortable, revolting conditions of .overcrowding and defective sanitation in prisons. So- ciety should set a better example than this. Government reprehends crime, including cruelties, and punishes the guilty, including those who commit of- fenses of cruelty,. What consistency is there in this if the Government thrusts the prisoners into prison con- ditions which are flagrantly cruel?” “Within & very short time after the problem of crowded prisons was brought to the President’s attention, as 4 result of the recent prison riots.” re ‘mmuh the Oh-‘ rleston Dll:y 1‘;{“,‘ 1y porary and & permanent rel lan had been decided ernment ean move with expedition and an absence of & maze of red tape when conditions demand such action.” The Chattanooga feels that ‘“the President will receive the hearty g— e T B o aeand et we RN at we our in this respect comed | country Quick Action Referring to the nse of disciplinary mil- itary barracks, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle declares: “In this way the most acute problem of the prison situation, so far as Federal prisons are concerned, will be solved for the time being. The outbreaks at Auburn and Dannemora thus have served a purpose in calling attention in dramatie fashion to conditions demanding correction, but which up to this time have received little attention.” “With the consent of the Secretary of War and the Attorney General,” plains the St. Louis Posi-Dispatch. military prisons are to be placed under the jurisdiction of the rtment. of | Justice and will be used to eare for the overflaw in the civil penitentiaries. The plan, as Mr. Hoover says, is a ‘temporary solution,’ but as such it will be wel- by the thoughtful opinion of ) as a remedial measure for a dis- tressing situation.” “Although at the Leavenworth Bar- racks there are accommodations for 1,000, ‘the number confined there at present does not exceed 600, many of whom are now eligible for parole and many of whom have merited a restora- tion of duty in the Army.” says the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “While many may consider the expenss in- volved in making the general prison cha srid constructing more units rather heavy. the Nation can well af- ford it, for it will result in far better prison discipline, make easier the sci- entific segregation of prisoners, and bring to an end the shameful crowding 80 forcibly impressed upon the public by the recent Leavenworth riot.” Szt i |How to Tell Whether Letter Is in Cipher " BY E. E. FREE, PH. D. How the writer of a cipher letter gave away the fact that it contained a secret message by his neglect to use & fountein pen instead of an ordinary dipped one is described by C. W. R. Hooker, British cryptogram expert, in & recent discussion contributed to the Police Journal, an official publication of the police forces of the British Em- The letter was written, Mr. Hooker reports, in a cipher of the difficult type in which the writing seems quite un- derstandable in the ordinary way, with- out suggesting any concealed erypto- gram, e first part of the letter did contain, however, a cipher message. The latter part did not, being merely ordinary writing. - Where the careless writer gave away his use of a cipher h'"klbytheblummllphupenlnlhe ‘These pauses are indicated, every stu- dent of handwriting knows, by the biacker writing immediately following the pause and dip. Not only does more ink flow off the pen point, but the ink usually has a time to be- fore the next biotting. Of the latter, unciphered part of the letter in ques- tion, most of the pauses for pen dips came, as ualmlmzlr Hooker reports, at sentences. In earlier portion, which the writer was copying from coded um, the dip pauses fell at more or less regular intervals, without relation to the sentence ends. The writer was copying. not thinking. Accordingly he :llfi'ped his when- ever the ink ran not at the natural breaks in thought. War Prfl;lrednen. From the Omaha W.rld: d. It redness war, there SO e s Aghiing on 'the Mane N Bars Crook Plays. s, e “Yerros Crook plays are "They would seem to be some- e ¢ The cols that formerly went to Newcastle. Dog Day Season. Toledo Blade. Prom the Toledo - endears | he | they sought reprisals after the way of NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM 1. G M. THE STORY OF GILBERT AND LIVAN: or The “Compleat” u’v‘g’: ard. Isaac Goldberg. Simon and Schuster, The other night it swung in over the air with the rwish and sweep of a |Feturn postage. broom.- i brand-new “The Mikado.” Not 8 sign of wear about it nor—-plously speaking—of moth, nor rust, nor decay. ‘What a vital thing it must have been at the start to stand so much of time with 80 little of time's blemish upon it! And along with “The Mikado” the rest came d Pinafore,” “Patience,” Os- DeWolf Hopper, & jumble of them, in & motley of gorgeous pos- turing and gay extravagansa, of beau- ml:l lllflt!“l:;m tuneful nonsense was pithy with the follles ane folgl‘;;;{ the rest of us, d and Sullivan—too bad, for me, :.h'n:l!.knev so little about these two, | names around which a few rags of hearsay fluttered unrevealingly. | Then, since it i undeniably true that thlnp—"roglc. happenings, nces — ‘which we open ourselves move into this welcoming mood, there walked right into my hand one day this book sbout. Gilbert and Sullivan by Isase Golflber, Here is a man who experi- ences life 1n large measure by way of great literature in its various limguistic and structural forms. in its general characteristics. in its artistic. values, in the spiritua) gift it offers to readers and students. The drama, the theater, in- vite Fm. 8o do outatanding Actors on z“h:mma :mee‘onkulr-nwn like an avelock Ellls, like Gfl- bert and Sullivan, too. And now we are setting out with Mr. Goldberg upon an adventure in life and From Sheridan on comedy had gradually declined, its place havin, been fairly completely taken by a dull and pompous muse, swollen to deadli- neas through its overweight of virtues and proprieties. This sketeh, short and erisp, sets an open door for revolt and change. It is upon this spproaching revolution that the two modern inno- vators are faced as future potent influ- ences upon the art of a new musical comedy whose essence is to.be pure satire, whose medium is to be laughter and melody and 1" extravagance. Immediately following the swift eral view of the ‘drama in ) comes the life sfory of each of these two. Separate stories at first, bent upon catching these children when they are soft to impressions, plastic to the E of nearby tmngn like the home ymates, like the deeper drive rited blood strains as well. These early-period stories serve their turn because they secure exactly that which they set out to find. They are delightful, besids in are wise in their gleanings of such traits as are deep- ted, such as promise to be influential in the sub- sequent vears of production along a special Jine. At this int the tale passes from vivid recital into analysis and appraisal. First, into an analysis of the partnership set up and, in the main, sustained between two distinet and often antagonistic elements. Not a small of the value of Mr. Gold- berg's discussion of this situation lies in the sane accommodations, which, in the main, united these disparate parts into working integrity. Out of this sanity and self-control issued the body musical comedy for which Gilbert and Sullivan stand as considerable in the advance of the English drama set to tune. The appraisals shift from the combined purpose of these two to & careful serutiny of the comedies which they produced. Satire as an instrument of illumination east upon the human is here examined and then, by way of the various comedies, shown in its applica- tion to life itself, The various operas are opened in the purpose of each, in the originality of its projection, in its effect, upon audiences, in its durability. with a swift gathering of them all for the sake of relative values of art and entertainment and social content. Bead- able? Lusclously that irom start to finish. Innumerable incidents, pic- tures, anecdotes, all along the line from babyhood to the rest of it. pass these two over to the reader in the very essence of their aims and achievements. Much like the rest of us. only more so. and this helps us to understand and to value, They loved and hated as we do, mankind. But, in spite of the daily handicap of themselves and their be- lonilnn—-lnlmlu and otherwise—they gayly hunted us down through our sins and weaknesses and then dressed us up in gorgeous trappings of color and music and impossible situations—the ting for the dosage. DeWolf Hopper says, “I am prepared to shout from any houset that Gilbert and Sullivan will never die"—and he ought . Some one else opines that Gil- lonal insti- | y speare”— | and 80 it ‘Whether you accept or ireject such estimates vou will, from ! one stand, have no division of mind whatever. Here is an engrossing study of a theme, current and general in its power of attraction. Its author is, primarily, & scholar in literature—in dramatic Mterature. Standing on high ground in this field. he takes & wide survey of the subject, both individual and comparative. And here is the best int in respect to Isaac Goldberg: Be- B?' a scholar has not robbed him of the human touch—of the humor, the sympathy, the insight, the full aeisure of the dramatic in every man and waman. Al of these have play here. Around them, over them, is the clear constructive er of the author— selecting, uniting. working from base to pinnacle in orderly way, sensitive and competent toward the inner har- mony of the whole, and to the outer symmetry of this story of his - lnl—"'l;\l: Story of 'thbe(rt lhd‘ll‘l’lll!l van.” The engrossment of & great ne combines here with the literary study of a living form of dramatic art. P THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCHOPEN- HAUER. Edited by Irwin Edman. ‘The Modern Library. Schopenhauer is more likely to be read by the general reader, by the un- academic man and woman, than any other of the ph rs. This for the very Teason that he is more easily un tood. The fi:“ average has no power to follow the two-faced habit of words as they grope and dodge quest of the soul and the deep-hidden meaning of human existence. Neither has the great average time for this pur- suit, nor taste for it. So the whole dialectical to-do of Plato and Aristotle, of Spinosa and Kant and Hegel and i bfltfl. acted, and turn teil in the long and devious The resouress of our free Informat!s ’:lanm 5 Q. Which Mnt;_ ); more brosdcast- l\‘r“lm California or New York?— ‘A New York has more. Oalifornia hes 49 and New York 34. Q. Did Woodrow Wilson ever play foo. ball at Princeton? Did he coach 3hn team after he was graduated.— . E. 8 A. Woodrow Wilson did some coach- ing in 1889 for Prineeton, but he never played on the team. President Wilson l'l.'I'l graduated from the university in Q.. How much does the ordinary ca- nary bird, weigh?—C. 2. A. A normal! canary weighs approxi- mately 3 ounces. However, one may weigh less, or it may weigh as much as 4 ounees. . What is Texas Guinan's real name?—S8. 8. A. Her name it Mary Louise. She took up the Texas because she was born in that State. Q. What is the name something like bridge in which one bids to lose tricks?—H. G. A. Nads is such a game. Bids are to lose 7, 8, 9. or 10 tricks. 1f s player | thinks he ean lose 11, he bids nil; if | he can lose 13. he bids grand nil, and to lose 13, he bids nad: per made in which What is it made M. W. A. Practically all the cigarette papers | in this country come from France, which makes the cigarette paper for | almost the entire world. These papers are so thin and light that it takes sev- eral hundred of the lttle sheets that go around the cigarette to make an | ounce. While commonly known as rice &.wr. thix paper is not made from rice, gt from flax and hemp trimmings, | only new material being nsed. The flax | and hemp is eut into small partieles. thoroughly mixed and ground simost to 2 & dust. Then it is put through a wash- erushed into out, into paper. e Q. Who was the Jewess depicted Sir Waker ottt 2 ol "A.” Rebecon Grats e o of Philadelphia he said: “How d Iike becca? Does thz° Joee “; {nn P tured eompare with the patte.n given?” Q. Is the Ottawa River in its upper course narth of Pembroke over 5,000 feet deep?—C. E. T. A. The department of puhflch ‘worke, it the Ottawa River was 5000 feet deep above Pembroke originated, as the river has been sounded by this depart- ment and the deepest sounding we have is only 215 feet. There may be greater depth in the Ottawa River below Pem- broke, but we do not know of any place 48 deep as 5,000 feet.” Q. How large are the citiss of Fan- ?—N. B, | ams and Colon' A. Panama ény has'a popilation of about 60,000 and Colon about 32,000. Q. PFrom what eountry does the United States receive mest of the tap- joca?—H. N, A. About 95 per cent comes e Java. Q. In what play was Laurette Tay- lor first associated with J. Hartley Man- ners?—M. G. A. In “The Great John Ganton"” the ¥ 2 Taylor. Manners had written a play called “Queen of All Hearts” which he read to Miss Taylor. With her help it was worked over into “Peg o' My Heart™ as a vehicle for her. In the early days of the production Hartley Manners and Laurette Taylor were married. Q. What were the popular cut flow- ers in this eountry as far back as the Civil War?—D. D. A. The flowers which appeared on the market in those days were, for the most part, the daphne. camellia, abuti- lon, calls, sweet, alyssum, heliotrope and occasionally tea roses. BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. Yesterday's celebration of Labor day marked a high point in the development | of orlllnmd hl;r h; mm"'it“h neral prosperity and uni inter- ::l be(r;m Capital and Labor in America. Only the radicals, carried | away with the bolshevistic prejudice | that teaches an worker and the employer. forget that | both parties need each other for eeo- | nomie progress. In the present state of labor. wherein greater recognition is given to the wage earner than had ever been known in the | history of civilisation. 1t is hard to| realize the contrsst between today and | yesterday for the workingman. the skilled artisan. the farmhand and the “m:lmon laborer™ in any| trade. ‘The whole theory of legislation re- garding the control and benefit of hu- manity, in days but a few centuries back. was based upon restraining the w n from too much ty. | . To pay wages above the fixed legal rate | was a crime, in the davs of Edward ITI in England. | * * k% In the middle of the fourteenth cen- tury the black plague. within a few months, wived out a third of the popu- | lation of England and so reduced the number of workingmen that the sur- vivors found themselves in-& tion enabling them to demand better wages and conditions of work. King Edward III issued a proclama- tion directing all officials to see to it that no higher than “customary wages” were paid, with penalties for evasion of the decree. But the was defied by the laborers, who fled into forests, rather than accept the old pittances— 3 or 4 pence a day, without board. When they were captured, they were held in prison until they would pledge them- selves not to accept higher than “eus- tomary wages.” untaught Men were not free to refuse to work. Parliament passed a law (1347 AD.) providing: between the | Engl: | eirele in whiel . COLLINS. up. Then Queen Plizabeth undertook to force lords and churches to give eontributions to the poor, under penalty of imprisonment for the unwilling giver. Prom Thorold Rogers, M. P., in his book “Work and Wages” we quote his description of degradation of labor in and, even unto this day: “How far beggary, wretchedness and erime, with their most fruitful eon- | comitants, drunkennest and hopeless- ness, reciprocally act on each other we cannot and never shall be able to tell. We know that they are the miserable 'h thousandz of our people, especially in London, revolve. We know that t! have destroyed all interest, in the means of the present day, in t ands. There is a large popula- tion which would, if it could, make war on society, which measures its own mis- ery by the opulence of others and is profoundly econvinced that every power | which society has and uses is employed against it. These people live in squalid deps, where there can be no health and no hope. but dogged discontent at their own ot and futile discontent at the wealth they see possessed by others.” The author adds concerning the laws of England and the olden efforts to soften their harshness upon the laborer with “poor laws” for his relief: “I can conceive nothing more cruel, 1 had almost said more insolent. than to sondemn a laborer to the lowest pos- ‘IIBI! wages on which life may be sus- | tained by an act of Parliament, inter- | preted and enforced by an ubiquitous body of magistrates. whose interest it | was to screw the pittance down to the | lowest conceivable margin and to in- form the stinted recipient that when he had starved on that during the days of hix strength others must work to intain him in sickness or old age. | 'o‘;!thh‘l; is ;pl‘ilt th:egtlmlf of ap- . supplemented by the poor Iflr:‘dfl in the days of Elizabeth. And |if you go. into the streets and allevs | of our large towns, and, indeed, of many | English villages, you may meet the fruit of the wickedness of Henry and the pol- (1) No person under 60 vears of age. whether serf or free, shail decline to undertake farm lsbor at the wages which had been customary in the King’ twentieth year. except they lived by merchandise, were regularly employed in some mechanical craft, were pos. sessed of private means or were occu- piers of land. The lord was to have first elaim to the labor of his serfs. and those who declined to work for him or for others were to be sent to the com- | mon gaol. (2) Imprisonment for all persons who it service before the time fixed in ir ents. (3) No other than old wages tc be given and those who seek more will be | M?‘d) in the lo;fl'l court. Lords of manors paying more than the customary amounts are liable to treble damages. (5) Artificers are liable to the same pqu_«tltlu if they accept higher wages thfl!l:er:r!rlzu. 80 scarce was labor that e Jandlo; were obliged to conspire with their workers to evade the law, by secretly paying higher rates than were entered on their books. and thus was demonstrated that law cannot fix maximum wages without relation to supply and demand. * ok x ¥ In the sixteenth century “Good Queen Bess” tried to benefit workingmen, who were suffering both from low wages and del currency, but even her govern- ment decided thet legal restraint of ‘was a necessity or a benefit, or Also restriction of labor was en- ., making a penalty of 40 shil- lings a month if anybody undertook to any manual occupation with- out seven years' apprenticeship. Wage Tates were fixed by decree of local mag- Istrates, therefore not uniform. ; & Tt was not until the middle of the nineteenth century (1853) that England repealed the ancient laws against the association of workmen for the pur- the rest, leaves him cold from lack of 'h and contact. But r it is different. Here the en great Napoleonic era—poverty, no work, young men largely killed off, despond: s emotion, Then a home—hated by his mother, unloved by is with one or another of whom as matter of pose of raising their wages. and then for some years the hours of labor be- came less in England than in any other country—eonsiderably less than in the United States. Yet that was the country in_which the lawmakers of the time of Edward IIT had attempted to restrain poverty and vagabondage by reducing all land- less and destitute poor to actual slav- , branding them and foreing them to work in chains. The atrocious at- lasted only two years before its failure was so obvious that it was given very scrubby, touch upon Schopen] . All that T want to say is that he is readable. He is vigorous and forthright snd vivid. One sees what he says, sees it moving out in illustration of the existence roundabout. uate, & hauer. { icies of Elizabeth’s counsellors in the | degredation and helplessness of vour countrymen.” . ‘Was he not referring to the millions, even today. out of employment in e |land and depepdent npon the charitable “dole” of the government? *x X % % Wages have risen in England and all over since the World War, but. nowhere comparable to the rise in the American rates, and England today is cal a tremendous load in its “doles” to the unemployed. We hear more or less agitation in the United States in favor of “old age pensions,” but not nearly so much recently about | the desirability of going back to pre- ‘war ended For a while after the war ere was urgent talk about “‘re- adjusting mechanics’ wages.” To pay this or t mechanic $10 or §15 a day appeared preposterous to the men of fized incomes. and some newspapers took up the cudgels to hammer down the wage rates to “normalcy.” It is not attriby to union labor that such agi- tation has largely ceased, but rather to the discovery by merchants and the public generally that high wages. dis- tributing prosperity among s larger proportion of the people, enhanced trade and added to general prosperity. High wages and shorter hours give greater opportunity for development of more people into worth-while consum- ers of all sorts of goods, and that in- creases demand and profits and in- creases employment to the producers. The same conditions enhance standards of living, standards of education, so that our “continuation schools,” as well as places of amusement and recreation, are growing in use by the millions whose noses afe no longer against the d- stone of toll. Union labor is mo longer synonymous with strikes, but is finding ways of peace and reason efficacious in reaching its goals, though, when nec- essary, its strikes are more effective than ever, in r:lehln‘ its objectives. * ® % ‘When the World War showed that this country, too, would be involved there was no more patriotic class than union labor. whether occupied in fac- tories in support of the Army and Navy or fighting as individual soldiers er sailors in battle. The American Feder- ation of Labar today is the greatest bulwark of the Nation aj t com- munism and other forms of subversion. It joins with the American Legion and other patriotic veterans in sup- porting the plan for not only a uni- the sacrifices. Union Ilal take for all classes all the war to the end that there be less incentive to false patriotism and false enthusiasm for war, while more equi- tably strengthening national defense. nh.hfid.lhre?mgem. ing serf and slave of King Edward's day to the upstanding, free and self- ‘mechanie - of !m United States today—the one in chains, with he brand of burned upon his employ- King . The is dead—