Evening Star Newspaper, September 10, 1929, Page 8

8 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C TUESDAY. .. .September 10, 1920 . THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company ‘Business Office: Penn: a Ave. New York Ofice: 110 East 4ind ‘St. Chicago Office: Lake Michigan Building. European Oftce, 14 Regent 8t. London, Englanc Rate by Carrier Within the City. The Evening Star,............45¢ per month The Evening and Sunday Star (when 4 Sundays) 60¢ per month The Evening and Su (when 5 Sundays he Sunday Star . per copy Collection made ai the end of ench rionth. Orders may be sent in by mail or telephone NAtional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Dally ln]fl Sunda! 1y lgM ¥ All Other States and Canada. Daily and Sunday..l yr., $12.00; Daily only .. Sunday only Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press 15 exclusively cntitled to the use for republication of all news ois- atches credited to it or not otherwise cre ted in this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. $8.00; $5.00: Pan-Europa Is Hatched. Giving prompt form to M. Briand's project launched at Geneva last week, League of Nations representatives yes- terday functioned as constituent mem- bers of another league—the long-moot- ed and hitherto purely theoretical “United States of Europe.”. Spokesmen of twenty-eight countries stood sponsor for the new confederation. They in- cluded, in addition to the French pre- mier, statesmen of such eminence as Foreign Secretary Henderson of Great Britain, Foreign Minister Stresemann of Germany, Foreign Secretary Hymans of Belgium, Premier Benes of Czechoslo- vakia and distinguished officials of Switzerland and Jugoslavia. If an in- fant’s future is assured by the caliber of its godparents, the “United States of Europe” is born under auspicious skies. This ambitious scheme to link the ©Old World into an economic and po- litical union, which shall leave the in- dividual sovereignty of its members un- impaired, has not yet been christened. Geneva dispatches refer to the birth of “Pan-Europa.” That sounds like a reply to “Pan-America,” at least as a reprisal in nomenclature. The joint and several authors of its being are at pains to deprive their conception of aggressive designs either to the west or to the east of them. When asked by news- paper men to summarize what occurred in the executive session at which “Pan- Europa” was hatched, a continental foreign minister disclosed that there was an agreement not to reveal the proceedings. But he expressed the “opinion” that the project “is directed against neither the United States of America nor Soviet Russia.” Till the full import and purpose of the “United States of Europe” -are proclaimed, it would be premature to rush to any sort of conclusions about it. ‘That sconer or later the confederation will infringe upon American interests is hardly to be doubted. In unity there is strength, an ancient copybook maxim reminds us, and a united Eu- rope will be something indubitably formidable. Its possibilities are literally immeasurable, and the high priests of American isolation will do well not to laugh them out of ccurt as unworthy of serious attention. A Europe presenting a stone-wall high-tariff front against American goods is one contingency that would command respect from this Nation of exporters, with a foreign trade worth $10,000,000,000 a year. A Europe which might some day demand revision of war debt settlements would be an ugly customer for American diplomacy to handle. A Europe spurred to insist on revision of our immigration laws could beccme bothersome, to say the least. ‘The “nuisance value” of the “United States of Europe” is capable of wide ex- tension. All this is what the Germans in an idiom of their own call Lukunftsmusik —music of the future. Pan-Europa is not one of those dreams that come true all of a sudden. The building of Rome, which we are told was not the accom- plishment of a day, is destined to have been a rapid process compared to the creation which has now leaped from Geneva’s loins. It is a significant step It reflects the get-together spirit which has pervaded the world since Versailles. It calls for vigilant observation on this side of the Atlantic. It may do some- thing here that its ingenipus archi- tects may have overlooked—draw still tighter the bonds which unite the nations of the Western Hemisphere, in- cluding the Dominion of Canada. ————————— As the father of a large family, Mas- solini may look forward to the estab- lishment of'a tribe that will nfaintain his ideals in Italian politics. N Speed in Police Court. Judge Kenyon, strolling around in in- formal inquiry for the National Crimes Commission, was impressed by a feature of Police Court procedure that long since has become traditional. The speed with which the average Police Court Judge can administer justice to a long line of Monday morning prisoners is truly astonishing. The repetition of sen- tences—“Ten days,” “Thirty days,” “Ten days,” “Ninety days”—becomes a monot- onous song that seems to lull even the prisoners into a state of languid com- placency as the bailiffs prod them for- ward from the pen to take their places in the dock. Only now and then a strange face or an unusual case breaks the dull routine and the wheels of jus- tice slow their measured click in defer- ence to something new. Judge Kenyon notes that while the usual criticism of court procedure is that it is too slow, it might be too quick. Perhaps there are times when the man who is pushed before a judge in Monday morning’s Police Court is dealt with too speedily. If the man, ignorant and gen- erally down at the heels, is unrepresent- ed by counsel, his case may. not receive the thorough-judicial examination that it might otherwise warrant as an inter- esting problem in sociology. But in Washington, particularly, the wheels of justice in Police Court must move rapidly or not at all.. Behind the | bars of the prisoners’ pen on & Hon-; day morning the week end assortment of them have spent two nights and a day ih a police precinct cell recovering from thie effects of excessive indulgence, in one form or ‘another, and the trip to thé prisoner's cell -in -Police Court is merely anaother step on the way to the relative . comforts of .the District Jail. The judge who sets them on their way, and speedily, is gullty of nothing more than a form of humani- tarianism for which the majority of prisoners are duly appreciative. ‘What bearing this rapid dispensation of justice, and its casual acceptance by the average prisoner, has upon the gen- eral crime situation is a problem that will gladly be left for solution by the President’s commission of experts. The remedy for machine-gun activity by Police Court judges is simple and not hard to find. More judges should be provided and more facilities added to s0c | Police Court equipment, for such addi- tions would permit a.leisurely atmos- phere that is now impossible. And with time and money the State might soc | be able to look into the antecedents of each case and find a better way of curing it than by imposing a sentence of ninety days in jail. ‘This money and time may come with an enlightened sense of social respon- sibility that now is largely dulled hy the repeated and regular appearance in Police Court of those who know nothing more and expect nothing more than “Ninety days or ninety dollars.” G. 0. P. Reorganization. Reorganization of the Republican na- tional committee, with Claudius H. Huston of Tennessee at its head, has taken place apparently in entire har- mony. If there were sore spots in the national organization ‘of the G. O. they ‘were kept in the background at yesterday’s meeting' of the committee. The meeting, indeed, developed into a love feast for both Mr. Huston, the in- coming chairman, and Dr. Hubert Work of Colorado, whose resignation was accepted by the committee with deep regret. Harmony . in . Republican gatherings which are open to the pub- lic is a well established custom. The party has its troubles at times in the hdlls of Congress, when members ‘get off the reservation, for one cause or another. But when it comes to an election, or preparations for an elec- tion, the recalcitrant members are usu- ally back in the party fold. It is this unity of purpose in cam- paign years that has helped to keep the Republican party in control so long. The new national chairman will do his best to keep the machine run- ning in perfect harmony, he says. = Mr. Huston is well fitted for the task he has assumed. He has demonstrated his ability as an organizer' time and again ‘'THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1939, Jjeopardy. It was just about that same time that the trouble with Russia broke. A settlement was effected with CGen. Feng, Gen. Yen assenting, certain finan- cial considerations figuring. But there has been no confidence in Feng’s con- tinued loyalty to the Nanking govern- ment and the fear has been openly ex- pressed that in the case of a war with Russia Feng would be found again in rebellious action with his large and remarkably faithful army. The latest outbreak of fighting on the border between Siberia and Man- beginning of the troubles and may prove to be so grave as to carry the two gov- ernments into war despite their evident desire to avold it. Border raids and presumably unauthorized troop move- ments against boundary towns may in themselves furnish a justification for war, but with each side contending that the other is the aggressor. In such case the original trouble and cause of the unfortunate situation becomes obscured. The issues over the Chinese Eastern Rallway are not. particularly difficult in themselves, but the general situation is such that any dispute may evoke latent bitterness, bringing China and Russia into a conflict that cannot be narrowly localized. An Aerial Hit-and-Runner. ‘The suggestion that aviation is be- coming & commonplace is accented by the development of the hit-and-run fiyer as a factor in the news reports. New York papers today tell of a fatal accident in Jamaica Bay when a sea- plane virtually cut a motor boat in two, killed one occupant and injured a sec- ond and then disappeared. The crash Pp.|was witnessed by two persons, but neither they nor the surviving occu- pants of the motor boat could tell much about the appeargnce of the seaplane or its pilot. This, however, was not the only case of fatality on the coast. On Saturday a plane of the Coastal Air- ways Co., with depleted gasoline, sud- denly dropped out of the fog upon the beach at Coney Island, killing two per- sons and injuring ten. The pilot of that plane was held and will probably face a charge of homicide. A pilot of the same company was held for the hit-and-run accident on suspicion, a pontoon of his plane having been found to be in a damaged condition. He de- nied being near the scene of the acci- dent and replied that the injury to his pontoon was caused by hitting a log in the water. Means of identifying planes beyond question must be adopted. The diffi- culty with these machines, as . with motor cars, is that they pass, as a rule, before they can be scrutinized closely enough for identification, Distinctive in business and he is no novice in the political field. For fifteen years he has played his part .in politics in his adopted State, Tennessee, and for a slightly less time in the national field. He is widely known and well liked by the political leaders of his party. That he hails from a Southern State is a novelty, it:is true. But the Republican party in-the South has for years been one of the problems which the leaders have sought in vain to solve. Last year the Republicans broke through the, wall . of Democracy which has st rouhded the Southern States and cap- tured four of them, not to mention all the border States. . Mr. Huston was an influential adviser in that campaign in the South. He will probably be in a more advantageous - position to deal with the Southern Republican problem than any other chairman has been in the past. Dr. Hubert Work has retired from the chairmanship of the national commit- tee after conducting one of the most successful campaigns ever waged by the Republican party. Under his leader- ship the campaign for the national ticket last year resulted in 444 electoral votes for President Hoover. Dr. Work was the reciplent yesterday of tributes that have rarely been paid a living politician. President Hoover addressed a letter to the vice chairman of the committee in which he gave unstinted praise to the retiring chairman, not only for his work as head of the Republican organization, but also for his long service in the Gov- ernment. Dr. Work has stepped out of office at a time when the fortunes. of the Republican party are at the highest peak. He is to take a rest, he says. It is well deserved. An airplane is lost. The disaster is so great that nobody cares much whether surviving relatives can collect repayments. —_—————————— Germany is working hard and leaving much of the question of industrial re- lationship to be determined by the fu- ture. Working Up a War in Asia. “Peace negotiations” between the Chi- nese and the Russians are progressing in a peculiar manner. They are indeed more like a state of war than a sincere effort to avoid it. Every few days comes word of a proposal by one side or the other looking to settlement, only to be followed by an outbreak of hostilities. Then comes & lull and & renewal of peace moverhents, until the belief has prevailéd that neither side really wants to fight. This deduction from the conflicting and confusing conditions in Northern Manchuria is probably correct. Had there been & disposition on the part of either the Russian or the Chinese gov- ernment to go to war over the question of management of the Chinese Eastern Rallway and the raiding of the Russian consulate at Harbin, hostilities on a large scale would by now have been in progress. Russia has made certain pro- posals for settlement which the Nan- king government has rejected, but not with such finality as to close the door to negotiation. The truth seems to be that China is in no condition to risk national unity by a foreign war, while Russia is likewise not in shape to con- duct a military campaign so far from Recent_reports from China disclose that the 'situation of the Nationalist colors, as well as numbers on the wings, to differentiate planes of organized services and companies, will become a necessity at the present rate of air con- gestion and mishaps, —————— In the course of time it may be made clear to press agents that divorces among motion picture stars are not especially interesting to the average reader. oo Dr. Eckener says Washington, D. C., ought to have a big airport. ' The-acre- age involved is large, and, again, the realtors are “all agog.” . ——————— ‘The former Kaiser is one of the rich- est men in the world. He pays homage to that good old Ametican, Ben Frank- lin, who always advocated thrift, ———— ‘Traffic regulations will never be satis- factory until they can take care of the bootleg personage who is attempting to crash the highway. —.—— Jerusalem has fallen into the atten- tion of political writers who have no regard for the hymnologists. ——m———— A golf champion has his day. The poet survives. Bobby Burns will be re- membered long after Bobby Jones. A propagandist must protect himself from the imputation that he is an “im- propergandist.” —————— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. ‘Wings. “I want to be an angel” I sang in days gone by; And yet the wings the present brings I do not care to try. “I want to be an angel,” But what is there to gain When pilots tough put up a bluff And dump the aeroplane? Balancing Accounts. “You owe the Government more than ever in income tax.” “Yes,” answered Senator Sorghum, “gnd I'm a little disappointed. My services have been conspicuously im- portant and the, Government doesn’t seem a bit grateful” Jud Tunkins says an air-bag lit safely on his haystack, and he thinks he ought to have some credit for help- ing 'along the cause of aviation. Books in the Running Brooks. In politics a chance I took, ‘Where life seemed like a Running Brook. And later on I gave the cry, “This good old Brook is Running Dry!” / On With the Dance! “Do you think a good dancer makes a good husband?” “I have my doubts,” answered Miss Cayenne. he can crash a party and get a new partner.” “We worship ancestors,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “but, do not seri- ously require them'to produce any credentials.” r The Little Bug. The agriculture talk is smug And sings' & mighty song, Until there comes & little bug, To tell you “you're all wrong!” “A safety razor,” sald Uncle Eben, “is one of de greatest influences foh dis- ,|armament and peace.” of derelicts and riffraff is crowded to- gether in a condition that more than once has been called a disgrace. Many oot Tough on Mosquitoes. “He is always liable to think | directions BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. nniuzyznnt of - comparativel a woman) at places where kz:lp: one col:tl % mory ures back of min wslllw bu::é::;: dottes ;{th white dgn here and there, y less, ever-cha % yet ever - the -same breakers, m crested, mounting up, curling over, flat- tening out for the run up the beach, always lmumn: to the front the old ‘u'll':y mt:é ‘hildren back away e cl n k & from | the advancing water, which rushes swiftly at first, but becomes slower and slower, until finally the rlvest beyond which t.h‘eh mentum cannot push For a sec- ond it stops, then the slope of the beach gets in its pull, and back goes the game water, leaving another out- line of wet sand, with curfous littla shells, and bits of seaweed as a sort of natural edging. * ok * It is customary to call beaches white, but as a matter of fact most of them are not white at all. The color of the average sandy beach along the At- lantic coast is a practically indescrib- able cross between yellow and gray, the exact shade depending upon the time whether the sun , and how m‘l‘:el}'l “ulg h-; fallen. : lections from sea an come ¢l ges which prof lonal painters hesitate to attempt. Ha noticed how few paintings you see of sandy beaches? Not that there is none, for there are some fine ones, but they are few in comparison with the number of paintings of rocky coasts, straight mn.fixlne scenes, ek:.thh " e answer to paucity is that the flat sandy beach is difficult to paint on account of the color of the sand and the difficulty of giving to it that smooth ififilgfi?“m character which it has in e. the bree: In the paintings which one is likely | crim to find of such beaches a child with wind-blown haif usually is placed, in order to give human interest to so wild & scene. Even in the smallest canvas— which is nothing more than a memory &Icture materialized—a stretch of beach of a wild nature. It does not take 40 miles of beach, marked at 10-mile intervals by lighthouses, to give the spectator an impression of ruggedness. Here, in the few feet depicted, we see rolling waves, sun-kissed 'clouds, sand, salt breeze—yes, actually see the , at least in effect, as we watch the children’s hair standing out around their tanned faces. . * kK X ‘What is more. refreshing, more vigor- ous, more caressing, than the true ocean breeze? One wakes up on hot nights in the city sighing for it, and during the day the imaginative will recall its im- palpable yet firm touch, although more "fi“ may separate one from it than miles. Its memory rushes back most easily on ‘| gives the atmosphere something seashore on beaches! g the h,’| the those rare days when just the right eombimnmmot eooheu" ‘md we".nm o feel. Perhaps iltulfi ;he !‘:wl’:mret ich as any one g not "m"i'm bnen{; mq salt is lacking. The tang of it is not there, only a kind imitation, which is yet good enough set memory working overtime. The beach is childhood’s rightful They can ir e o) content, H‘mm" hxrm“hboln: any one'’s lawn, or | g & nel 'S shrubs. They can &: in the sand all day long without disturbing the sleep, reading or work of earnest men and women. The beach is made for digging children. ; ‘What wonderful castles one constructs ‘The best place is just at of the breaker overflow, where sand is.firm and wet, but not too firm nor too soppy. It must be just right for the construction of )per battlements to keep the up- water in its place. Usually it is advisable to permit a portion of the water to flow through the town by way of a viaduct, or tunnel, which must be placed directly through and beneath the main wall facing the great sea. Such a little castle, after all, facing such a big sea! But childhood’s affairs it, gigantic, to childhood. Their sorrows are the greatest sorrows in the world, far ex g their joys. Let no one smile at the catastrophes of the little ones. Unfortunately there 1is something in human nature which causes the ills of life to be remembered far longer than the good. Many a child will in later life recall how Pido burst through the perfect castle, utterly ruin- ing it, in his mad chase after a long- legged, prong-eyed fiddler crab. * ok * ok So it is well to recall the sunshine, the rolling waves, the salt air, the beau- run there to|the strength is still bringing it to fortunate people who live there or who are able to go there. ‘The beauty of the sea breeze is that it never stops except for those rare pe- | riods when the harsh land breeze sets in. ‘These, however, are exceptional. Mostly the ocean breeze is so constant that one forgets about it, simply accept- ing it as a part of life. In the old days when women wore long hair they com- plained because the seaside air made their hair so wet, but now that bobbed hair is' the happy fashion the ocean breeze can be charged with no such e. Nor is there any favored spot along the sandy stretch, so long as one keeps upon it; the wind blows steadily from its direction, far up toward the half- way house as well as down by the busy hotels and cottages. The “half-way house” on many & beach is not an eat- ing and drinking place catering to way- farers, but rather a shack placed for the convenience of the beach patrol. It is located half-way between life-saving stations and affords shelter to the two men who tramp from opposite direc- tions, giving them a breathing spell on blustery nights before they plunge out in the stiff wind. Yes, our seashore breeze can be a wrecker as well as a helper of humanity, but it is not with the sad phrase that we have concerned ourself, but solely with the happy side of it. If one were inclined to statistics he could show that the ocean breeze has built up far more health than it has destroyed in ship- wreck. Even the memory of it is, vitalizing. . Year of Progress Stimulates Confidence‘ in Flying Safety Confidence in the safety of air travel has grown marvelously in the year 1929 notwithstanding the tragedies which continue to mark the trail of progress in commercial development of aviation. America is still talking about the Graf Zeppelin’s trip around the world and appraising its’ contribution. In the opinion of the Roanoke Times, the Zeppelin's performance “easily takes rank among the most famous exploits of an age notable for outstanding achievements in the conquest of the air. It definitely marks,” continues that paper, “the turning of another page in the history of air travel. Dr. Eckener and his crew richly deserve _the encomiums showered on them. have made history.” The Zeppelin's trip from Japan to Los Angeles is called by the Hartford Times “a demonstration of potent meaning in the development of aerial navigation,” and that paper continues: “The day seems to have passed when people make much question whether a mammoth dirigible may be made fairly safe. Debate about it, for peace-time service, runs rather to whether there can be economy in it as a means of transportation, the plane being as fiyoet swifter and terrestrial communication ‘better adapted for heavy cargoes and maintenance of schedule.” “Development of aerial passenger transportation has been retarded,” ac- cording to the Spokane Spokesman- Revie A "b& 'Ehifx timidity of “%‘n:‘?fifi body of potential passengers. of something new restrained train travel in the early years of railroad- ing. Many are heard to say, ‘I sm waiting before I go up for additional safeguards—improvements in airships and the development of more experienced pilots’ The United States Department of Commerce has taken cognizance of this reluctance, and, to protect the El;blu: and aid the aeronautic industry erating personnel, has ber of new regulations.” ing these paper concaxdu,d"wnh . oo requirements and steady improvem in stabilization arfd safety of aircraft, robable that prediction of Col. Lind and other well ad- vised authorities, that the time is not distant when air travel will be safer than riding in an automobile on city meflfled.md country highway, will be = " “The year 1920,” says the Louisville Courler-Journal, “has lived up to the prediction that it would see the greatest development thus far in commercial aviation in the United States. It is s the 8 They | show something of the distribution of the ‘ things which worried Comdr. Eckener throughout the world flight may be eliminated. With public in- terest stimulated by the world flight, great advances in dirigible construction and operation may be anticipated.” “With the new air-mindedness which is growing up here in America,” sug- gests the Fargo Forum, “it is interest- ing to the public to look at the figures showing the development of the indus- try. It is rather surprising to most of us that 101 firms are now engaged in this country in manufacturing air- planes and that 23 firms are manufac- turing airplane motors; it is likewise surprising to find that there are now 22,082 workers in these plants. * * * To the industry, a Government report says that New York has the ‘largest num- ber of manufacturers, with California second. Other States which are mak- ing considerable progress are Michigan, ‘Washington, Kansas and Ohio. Statis- tics show, however, that planes are be- ing manufactured in 29 States. So far locating has not been much of a fac- tor. For instance, Kansas, during 1928, produced the second largest num- | - ber of planes among the States, New York being in first place. "-‘lcblta. gam is one of the largest pioducing jes.” Quoting a common expression that “the time will come when everybody ity Journal takes “Some persons are so extravagant of words that they predict aircraft will be as plentiful as motor cars are now. That won't hap- pen, no matter how much aviation and aeronautics may be developed in the future. Man continue to crawl along on the ground as he does now. Not everybody will tfavel in the air. Owners of rallroad stock need not worry. There will be trains and ships and street cars and busses and auto- mobiles.” Frau Rosika Schwimmer Miscalled a Communist To the Editor of The Star: In a portion of an article published in The Star of September 3, regarding Frau Rosika Schwimmer, I referred to her, purely through inadvertence, as a Communist. My intention to de- scribe her as a pacifist, for I have no‘ knowledge that she is a member of the Communist party. At another point in the article I did mention that Frau Schwimmer is a pacifist. I hope the ibly inaccurate description of her caused her no annoyance. FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. lormances United | ““Coxey’s Army” Goes | should ' be itted to make a Wi | $on, there might be 8 heraid i an ¢ i i i | itional | years hit Forward With Times From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Gen. Jacob Sechler Coxey of Massil- lon is again on the march. Just as his famous procession. to Washington 35 ago included almost every type of vehicle of the period, .as well as a pic- turesque tion on foote so his journey = to essional . districts to lecture on the of interest- free_ money for public improvements is in the mode, an auto caravan. If we X general slso s up-to-date’ in wing: a master of ceremo: daughter, Patricia ‘Ruth, an P in the role. His wife and a number of friends also travel with him tent l\l“fil:’ mfil '&:}"Tn"m'" ‘ % a happy ou ™ parison with the pageant of many trib- e tnese. plainy hlppleryd u are Even. though the may 'mrll\‘on NEW. BOOKS AT RANDOM e —— LG M. THE STRUGGLE FOR HEA Richard Hoffmann. Horses Live ‘This, volume covers the substance and general sequence of the longest serial ever written that is, essentially and inti- mately, your story and mine. story of all the you's and me’s that have existed since man first stood straight on his hind feet, hge:;.:unx thereby both an weakness of the whole man-tribe, The_current issues of this long serial . may be found on every newsstand, “Physical Culture,” “How to Be Well," and s0 on and 0 on. Its earlier ap- pearances, however, were less open. Rude gashes on the walls of dark, long- hidden caves. Characters’ graven on stone and marble, buried for thousands of years. Scrolled papyri entombed for centuries. Parchment lined by the pa- tient skill of cloistered medieval crafts- men. Later—much later—the wide spread of the long recital by the mar- velous invention of printing.” Whatever of incident or external may embellish, or burden, the recital, its inner content. the vision that projects it is gver the same—man’s struggle for hedlth and well-being. A doctor tells the story, gathering it up from man’s recorded beginnings, co-ordinating its parts, illuminating its most vital points, emphasizing its sig- nificant drives and drifts, dramatizing its epic moments of discovery and prog- ress, humanizing the dreariness of its pure scholarship by the cast of humor, by striking comparisons and contrasts that link the past,and present in & g‘lsphlc picture or episode. .In a word, matter that might be as dry as the dust in which much of it has lain buried, as cryptic as the technicalities of sclence or as elusive as the dialec- tics of its earliest treatment, turns out, instead, to be an adventure of intimate exploration through the land of human experience, on a quest for health, the human worth and ppiness. Myth, magic, witchcraft, and other strange cults all over the world, re- ligion, the shifting moralities of time and place, art, philanthropy—indeed, every phase of collective expedient and purpose, goes back, and still back, to the elemental urge of all life to con- tinue itself, to perpetuate itself through individual struggle, through forced unions for strength. With univer- sal primitive urge goes fear. So many things in nature menace that continu- ation of the personal man. Storm, drought, heat, cold, the thunder bolt, the lightning flash, a thousand unseen things threaten extinction. Some awful power lies behind it all. So, there rise systems of propitiation with which to turn aside the manifest anger of the mighty one. - Gifts, sacrifices, rit- uals, ceremonies arise, along with cer- tain less spectacular measures for sup- porting and continuing the body of man. All of these are bent upon life, upon living. Religlons with their ac- companiments of chant and ture— music and painting and sculpture in embryo—derive from the same source that gave rise to the art of healing. Necromancy, alchemy, medicine, sur- gery, psychology, psychiatry, the entire school of preventive treatment, bac- terfology, municipal sanitation, per- sonal hygiene—these, waiting upon dis- covery, upon the applications of sci- ence to bodily well-bsing, upon an enlightened and receptive public—these g0 back, in essence and purpose, to that almost unreckonable past when man said, or thought, “If I could get around by the use of my hind feet alone, then I eeuld do a lot of things with these front feet of mine.” So, he kept trying and trying—the seed of the unconquerable even then sprouting somewhere within him—and, by and by, the thing was done. Standing erect—more or less erect—he began slowly to make shifts here and there with those two amazing front feet— hands they were to be in the course of time—began to fabricate rude thin —tools, covering, other shelters, roug comforts. A story almost inconceiv- ably long—a story altogether impressive, convincing, fascinating. Along its later courses familiar names begin to appear as contributory agents in the progres- sion toward health and safety—Wil- liam Harvey, Virchow, Curie, Pasteur, Roentgen, Steinach, these chosen at random and quite out of ofder, to indi- cate but a few of the names and measures that stretch all the way from Moses to Freud in a panorama of achievement whose effect has been an appreciable lengthening of man’s life, through the pursuit of health. Au- thority, information, immediate per- sonal concern, and, surely, keen in- terest over a generally vital matter, establish a partnership here betwesn the reading public and an author of surpassing usefulness—an author com- petent to enlighten and to charm at the same time with the great epic that he has gathered up concerning man's struggle toward health. EE THE FOUNDING OF WESTERN CIV- ILIZATION. Prof. George C. Sellery and Prof. A. C. Krey. Harper & Bros. Usefully for the world, scholarship has within recent years taken a new turn. Learning as an end is gradually stepping away from its earlier exalted, almost sacrosanct, inclosure. The idea is becoming urgent that the usefulness of scholarship should be open to every- body, since all are in need of enlighten- ment about the journey along a strange road that has been laid down for the wise man and the fool to travel together toward a common end. The men of learning are responding to this call. Here is a case in point. The title of the book declares its purpose. Here is a study of history whose definite aim is to gather from the past such bodies of racial and institutional fact as have contributed definitely to the civilizations by which we ourselves are surrounded, toward which we are contributory influ- ences, Under superficial consideration this history looks much like another that covers the same field. But it is not like these. To be sure, there is the commonly treated drift from the Orient over into West. There is the rise of one power and another on the Continent of Europe—Roman, Teuton, Frankish. There is the dawn of feudal- ism, the “increasing strength of the church in®temporal affairs, the story of the kings of chivalry. Centuries are counted by their special contributions to the purposes and spirit of each of them. One of them gives industry, one learning, another the arts. Towns rise here. Crafts and trades identify and stamp them. ' So the story runs on to the day of the great discoveries, to the opening up of a new world, to the “founding of we civilization.” Upon its face, therefore, here is sln:glly another history of the world looking toward the present. However, the point of this particular study’rests upon the very important matter, indeed the vital matter, of emphasis. Throughout the historic substante of the whole there is in every period and in every character- istic of national growth a certain basic element—a seed, so to speak—that per- sists, that continues. a definite measurable contribution to the growth of succeeding periods. It is to such elements of perpetuity and shaping that these scholars devote their powers of analysis, illumination, illustration. By 3hie fo come thia posscssion of an in- able to come o lligent grasp not only of the rise and environment but gowt.h of his own to an. lntelgkmtu!:\m as well of the it of history and of its only conceivable point and g:pou ‘Under such a conception of th munlnfln{ history in jts bearing nfun the later western, developments of it there comes to hand here a book of tremendous vitality, of immediate con ‘There cern. comes to hand & legitimate use of the of for ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. What do you meed to know? Is e puzzles it know there something you without delay? Submit your question to J. Haskin, director of our w! Information Bureau. He is employed to help you. Address your uiry to The Evening Star Informa- I’M Frederic tion Bureau, J. Haskin, direc- tor, Washington, D. C., and inclose 2 cents in coin or stamps for return post- Q. Has there been more than one motion picture of “ ine”?—G. M. A. There have been two luctions made of the photoplay “Evangeline.” Both were le by the Fox Company. The first production was released Au- gust 24, 1919. The second is a late production and is still being shown. Q. Which has more surfaced roads, ‘ennessee or Georgia?—C. H. W. A. In 1928 Tennessee had 3,555 miles of surfaced highway and Georgia had 2,664 miles. Q. What is the power of the micro- scope used to see germ of tubercu- losis?—J. J. 8. A. The type of microscope u'ed has & magnification of about 1,200. Q. Where do circuses get their lions and tigers—G. E. A. Most of them come from menag- eries and 2zo0s and the chief supply is from stock bred and raised in captivity in the United States. Q. Will you kindly name some Amer- ican women who were prominent dur- ing the Revolution?—L. G. Among the outstanding: women of the period were: Martha Washington, Sarah Hopton, Catharine Livingston, Deborah Samson, Mrs. Lewis Morris, Rebecca Biddle and Mrs. Ralph Izard. Q. Didn't the S. S. Paris, which was swept by fire at Havre, have an acci- dent in the New York Harbor re- cently—N. S. A. Some time ago sbe grounded in New York Harbor during a very heavy fog. Several days elapsed before the ;l‘tssel ‘was sufficiently lightened to float er. Q. When the word “mesdames” is used as the plural of “madam,” how is it pronounced?—D. F. A. The French pronunciation is used. It is pronounced as if spelled ma-dam, the first “a” having the long sound, the second a short sound, the accent falling almost equally on each syllable. Q. How many Boy Scouts went to the convention in England?—B. E. S. A. About 50,000 attended. Forty- two nations were represented. Q. Can a man pick 500 pounds of cotton_in one day?—L. C. S. A. The Bureau of Plant Industry says that 500 pounds of seed cotton have been picked in one day by one man, but the average amount is a great deal less than this figure. Q. How many of the original man- tl.e‘lsl:u in use in the White House?— A. Two of the original mantels are still in use. % How much heat is lost by using gol® or. aluminum paint on radiators? A. The Bureau of Standards says that it is demonstrated that about 20 r cent of the heat of radiators is lost f they are painted with gold or silver aluminum paint. It recommends a light-colored ordinary house paint. Q. When did the Red Cross gain public ‘recognition as the Nation’s agent. for taking care of people in dis- asters and emergencies?—R. E. R. A. It was at the time of the hurri- cane at Corpus Christi, Tex., in 1919, that States, cities and organizations generally sent the funds collected for relief to the Red Cross for distribution and administration. Q. How can coral beads be cleaned? —V. 8. A. Dissolve a teaspoonful of borax in a pint of warm water. Dip the coral in the water several times, rinse in tepid water sand dry. Q. Does ice remain at one temper- ature or does it vary with the air?— D. C. A. A. 1t varies according to the sur- rounding air. It may be just a little below the freezing point, or it may be much colder. Q. Where is the original Toscanelli map that Columbus used during his voyage?—M. M. A. The existence of the original Tos- canelli map is doubted at the present time. Some authorities claim that such a map was never given to Columbus. Q. Why is Gershwin's “Rhapsody in Blue” called a rhapsody?—I. W. A. Henry Osgood in “So This Is Jazz” say: “Gershwin purposely chose the title ‘Rhapsody’ to leave him- self unhampered by the rules of musical form, a rhapsody being, musically speaking, a free-for-all catch-as-catch- can affair. It is interesting to note that, notwithstanding this, he fell into a regular form, for the composition, though played without pause, has the regulation three movements of the con- certo for solo, instrument and orches- tra—the moderately paced opening al- a slow section, and a brisk BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. Business is “picking up” in the Post Office Department—picking up and carrying many millions of items, mostly transported at a loss to the service. President Hoover is planning to stop that leak and improve the service and to guarantee “more and bigger letters” to _hungry correspondents. He wil make drastic recommendations in his next message to Congress, although the situation is not nearly so critical as that of stopping crime and installing virtue in the enforcement of law and the Con- stitution, for there will be no recom- | mendation that the several States run their own postal services to suit them- selves. The fact that the President has not appointed a whole commission, like that of the farmers and the law enforce- ment experts, but has simply hired one man and made him Third Assistant Postmester General, with the special duty to audit, ascertain and point out more efficient methods, shows that it should be easy to save the present loss of $95,000,000 a year, more or less. That does not include certain yments covering retroactive claims of $51,000,- 000. * k k% It will surprise some critics of the Post Office Department to learn that nobody in that service has anything to do with its financial policies. The Post- master Geenral is only an executive | officer; he cannot define policies, fix rates, nor classifications, nor running expenses. For example, a few weeks ago the Interstate Commerce Commission added $15,000,000 & year to the running ex- penses of the Post Office Department by increasing the subsidies to the rail- road companies carrying the mails. The Postmaster General had no voice in the matter. Salaries have been raised by Con- gress—not too highly, but raised— without the action of the Post Office Department. By act of Congress every policy of the mail service is fixed; all that the officials of the department can do about it is to obey the acts of Con- gress. Politics, and not scientific economics, governs the policies of the Post Office Department, as all employes must seek the backing of some Congressman, whether they are capable or not. Every country postmaster is appointed by order of his Congressman, and unless he commits a crime he cannot be re- moved except by and with the consent of his Congressman. It is Congress and the Interstate Commerce Commission and the owners of ships and railroads subsidized to carry our mails that run the Post Office Depgrtment. The Post- master General recommend—not. decree anything. So, we pay the cost of politics in an- nual deficits of carrying the mails, and the public, in its ignorance of facts, sometimes believes that there is mis- management ,ln*t.h'e p’ost‘l.l service. ‘When a question was asked the head of one of the branch offices of our Post Office Department how our annual deficits compared with similar deficits in foreign countries, he was puzzled at the question, but thought that in for- eign countries subsidies to carriers were more liberal, and, consequently, the deficits must be greater than here. Upon asking the same question of Mr. White, who is in charge of foreign mails in the United if-’nfas ;o:}l‘ ?;noe t, we were inform at for- mnm do not subsidize their rail- roads and have no deficits in their mail services, for the foreign nations com- bine all services of communications— mail, telegraph and telephone, and even newspaper subscriptions—and so are self-sustaining. ‘When a person wants to subscribe for a mewspaper :l: othz;lagubllcmfn he does not write the publisher or cir- d remit; he tel then remits to the publisher, less a commission. Thus the post office de- partment in any European country is a general subscription agency, with a monopoly on all circulation of all pub- lications. P alone pays “liberal” sidies to steamship and railroad car- riers, and charges the lowest postage rates, and hauls the longest distances and delivers to the most isolated desti- nations, of any nation in the world, thing of a plausible forecast. Too much cannot be sald in approbation of the two scholars, active in professional work, who have revitalized subject to the immediate concern and pursuit of readers and students. There is a moral quality of here, that one has to tance to the of as such. How- and this is largely in defiance of con- sistent rates or policies. For example, a letter can be sent to England, Ireland, Scotland and Spain for 2 cents, but a letter coming back from England costs 3 cents, and one going to or coming from France or any 1| other part of Europe costs 5 cents. Before the war the rate to and from Germany was 2 cents (while to France it has always been 5 cents), but dur- ing the war the German rate was in- creased to 5 cents, and has never been changed back, following the treaty of peace. e e There are many observers who fail to appreciate the policy of subsidizing railroads and steamships by paying an arbitrary rate for carrying the mails— a rate much higher than paid by the public for first-class freight or express cargoes. Critics of the present low postage rates, involving an annual defi- cit, declare that President Hoover will recommend the readjustment of post- age so that the beneficiaries of the service, and not the general taxpayer, shall pay for that service. If that principle be adopted, will it mot also apply to the railroads and steamships, 50 that they shall be paid by the Gov- ernment the same rates as do other shippers for a similar class of ship- ments? Why should the general tax- payer, living a theusand miles or three | thousand miles from a certain railréad, | be taxed to support that railroad? Aty A few years ago there was a great hue and cry over the financial loss on second class matter at the postage rate | of 1 cent a pound for newspapers and periodicals. ‘Thereupon, the _express companies stepped in and offered to carry second class matter any distance not exceeding 500 miles from the pub- lishing office for a half cent a pound, and they did it as a commercial enter- prise giving them a profit. They did not deliver papers to individual subscribers but carried in bulk from the pressroom to the newsdealer. Post office service requires the publisher to haul his papers to the post office for mailing, but the express companies did that hauling, taking the load at the pressroom, and doing the transportation at half price— for a profit, barring the final distribu- tion to individuals. i The persistent growth of the postal service is shown by the revenue in 1906 and the fiscal year, ended June 30, 1928. (No report for 1929 is yet avail- pable) In 1906, the total revenue amounted to $167,932,782.95, while in 1928 it was $693,633,921.45—an increase to four times as great in 22 years. A century ago, the total revenue was less than $4,000,000. ‘There are so many improvements in the service today which did not exist prior to the last few years that it is hard to realize the fullness of the serv- .|ice and its recentness. The registry service was begun in 1855; free delivery in cities in 1863; money orders in 1864; special delivery in 1885; rural free de- livery in 1896; postal savings system in !llgllzlgnrcel post in 1913 and air mail 1918, e The newest service is the air mail. In 1925, laws were enacted providing for the transfer of air mail lines to private contractors. Payments to such contractors in the fiscal year of 1926 amounted to $89,764: in 1927 to $1,363,~ 288 and in 1928 to $4,042,777. Appro- priations for contract air mail for 1929 totaled $11,430,000, and for 1930, $13.- 300,000, exclusive of $4,300,000 appro- priated for our foreign air mail service. Postmaster General Brown has ex- pressed the view that too much is be- ing paid to some of the air mail con- tractors, but President Hoover is partial to the continued improvement of that new branch of the service, and is un- ]is | derstood to oppose the curtailment of the subsidies to commercial aviation in form of a liberal allowance for carrying the malls. * K kK In 1927 and 1928, American ships of contract ocean carriers received between $6,000,000 and $7,000,000, of which at least half was understood to be subsidy for the mainténance of an American merchant marine. Appropriations for ocean mail have increased from $7,800,- 000 in 1928 to $23,000,000 for the fiscal year now running, to expire next June 30. Hence it is apparent that while the annual deficit of the entire postal service is “viewed with alarm” the Hperality in subsidies, in the guise of carrying the mails, continues to prevail with unabated zeal. So long as. complete control over postage rates and classification of mail matter is retained by Congress and not intrusted to experienced post office ex- perts there must be deficits ‘and in- equalities. Efficiency and economy are subordinate to itical considerations sessfon of Congress, opening on the first Monday in Decemg (Copyright, 1929, by Paul V. Collins.)