Evening Star Newspaper, September 27, 1929, Page 8

THE:«BVENING STAR With Sundsy Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C FRIDAY......September 27, 1020 THEODORE W. NOYEE....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Offie: 11ty 8t and Pennayly New York Office: 110 E: Chicago Office: European Office: Rate by Carrier Within the City. 8 45¢ Sar i per month unday 00¢ per month 88c per month ... b per on mi ihe'end of each me oc! mth. Orders may be sent in by mail or telephone NAtional 5000. Rate n Mail—Payable in Advance. B sut fls and Sunday..1 yr. y only .. 3 Sunday only Member of the Associated Press. ‘The Assoc@ted Press is exclusiv to the use for republication of P credited to it or not ited in ¢ his paper and also the published herein. All righis of special ispatches herein are e The Lobbyist A general investigation of lobbying by individuals and corporations in Wash- ington is proposed in a resolution of- fered by Representative Ernest W. Gib- son of Vermont. Mr. Gibson proposes that the investigation be conducted by a joint committee of the Senate and Houre. Congressional lobby investigations are almost perennial. Certainly the demands for these investigations recur annually. Congressicnal committees have taken reams of testimony in their inquiry into the activities of lobbyists. Yet the lob- byist is still with us, and, it is charged, 18 more active than ever. It may occur to the common or garden variety of American citizen that if these lobby ac- tivities are an evil, Congress might do something about them beyond mer “investigating.” But the investigation Is tke long suit of Congress. The present proposal for a lobby in- vestigation grows out of the publicity which is given the investigation by the Senate of the big Navy lobby conducted by the self-stvled “bass drum,” Willlam B. Shearer. at Geneva and elsewhere. It grows out, too, of charges that the Amer- jean shipbullding companies - which em- ployed Shearer have expended large sums of money for lobbying in connec- tion with merchant marine legislation before Congress. And, finally, the activi- ties of many interests in connection with the pending tariff bill may have something to do with the demand for & lobby investigation, which has been voiced by several members of Congress in addition to Mr. Gibson. The Webster definition of “lobby” is “to address or solicit members of & legislative body in the lobby or else- where, with intent to influence their vote by personal agency.” The business of influencing legisla- tion is a large one, particularly in Washington, where a amount of legislation is turned out an- nually. Individuals or organizations having an iInterest in legislation are en- titled to present their cases to con- gressional committees or to individual members, of Congress. They are en- titled to employ representatives to pre- sent their cases for them to the mem- bers of Congress and the committees. It is only when there is secrecy or when attempts are made corruptly to influ- ence members of Congress in their votes on legislation that the lobby becomes cffensiv~, an evil, a threat to the Gov- ernmen: :self. If there is full pub- licity regarding the activities of the lobbyists, if the interests they repre- sent when they talk with members of Congress are made known to the Congressmen and to the public gen- erally, all chance of corruption falls to the ground. In the past, bllis and resolutions have been offered providing for the register- ing of all lobbyists in Washington, active in pressing claims before Con- gress or influencing the trend of legis- lation. But nothing has been done about. it. Such a system appears to be both feasible and practicable, If all legisla- tive agents were compelled to make & report of their employment to a Gov- ernment agency on pain of being fined or imprisoned if they failed to do so, it might, indeed, curtail the number of agents working about the halls of Con- gress. But that doubtless would be a blessing to the members of Congress as well as to the country at large. The Congress might even go further and compel these legislative agents to be licensed: have numbers assigned to them, just as licensees in other lines are assigned numbered tags or tickets Congressional investigations of lobby activities are salutary sometimes. They put the fear of God and public opinion in the hearts of some unsorupulous agents. But there it nothing final about them. There are a nine-day wonder, and then the swarm of lobby- ists is thick sgain, some of them, of course, working legitimately, but others not so lawfully. They continue to be active until the next investigation comes along. ‘Then it is all quiet along the Potomac for a season. —————— Washington, D. C., needs an airport. The problem involved is that of bring- ing realtors into agreement with avia- | tors. ely entitied i 1 ews d —vona. ‘The Fokker plane is a magnificent reminder of the courage shown by Prof. Langley in his early experiments. B “Just Polities” in New York. A little less than a year ago a man was shot in a room in a hotel in New York City, dying two days later from his wounds. He was well known in the underworld as a gambler. One man was caught and indicted for the murder. Another was caught, but after police questioning was released and was later indicted, but he has not been recap- tured. The district attorney has an- nounced that he will not press the trial of the man already held until the other can be captured. That is the so- called Rothstein case that for a time seemed to be just another metropolitan mystery, but that has now come to the front as a “scandal.” A mayoralty campaign is in progress. Mayor Walker is a candidate to succeed himself, and one of his opponents is Richard E. Enright, former commis- sioner of police, who is conducting a militant canvass of the bi7 city in terms of savage attacks upon Tammany Hall. He has specialized In the shortcomings tremendous | of the police and the prosecuting or- ganization of New York County, He has made the Rothstein case one of his sub- jects of discussion, and charged that the real story of the tragedy and subse- quent handling of the affair by Tam- many officials would, if told, reveal a shameful state of corruption. He has gone so far as to declare that Rothstein had loaned large sums of money to ad- ministrative officials of New York and also to judges, and that the inertia in the case is due to unwillingness to allow the facts to become known in the course of a trial. Enright offers to go before any investigator designated by the governor and tell all he knows and all that he has been told regarding this affair. The acting governor has stated, however, that he will take no action on these charges, on the ground that they are “Just politics.” Enright undoubtedly knows a great deal about New York's police adminis- tration and about the relations of the underworld to officialdom. He probably has no expectation whatever of being elected mayor. Perhaps he only wants to figure in the center of a sensational investigation. ‘The country at large is not keenly concerned about the Rothstein case or the sins or short- comings of Tsmmany as a local influ- ence or the inadequacies of the New York police gnd prosecuting depart- ments. But it is interested, as in a phenomenon of American municipal politics, in how Tammany operates as A controlling power in the largest city of the United States, hopes for another searching inquiry into municipal affairs in New York such A8 the one that revealed the machina- tions of the Croker regime quite a num- ber of years ago. Whether Enright's charges are “justpolitics” or not, they may, if he persists sufficiently, evoke an investigation of this sort. — oo Th; iey~Witneu. son ease it is well to refrain from ex- tensive eomment at this time upon a series of incidents that have no prece- tion in Washington. But there is one development in the case, 80 astonishing to all who have standing. It overshadows most of the | other clues and near clues, and charges that the grand jury is so thoroughly and righteously running to earth. This development concerns the state- ment by Policeman Allen that on the night Mrs. McPherson is supposed to have come to her death he, a policeman, saw & man leave a window of the | apartment and descend, by way of a roof, to the ground. One of the pe- culiar phases of this important state- | ment is that the significance and value | become buried beneath a maze « con- flicting statements and theories as to whether a man, standing where Police- man Allen stood, could have seen & man leave the window in question. ! But that is relatively unimportant. Here we have the case of a woman found strangled to death. Thirty-six hours after she died her body is dis- covered. Headlines flare with the news of the discovery. Two days’later a coroner’s inquest is held and the death is laid to suicide. Officer Allen, attend- ing the inquest as a spectator. remains | sitent concerning the fact that on the | night the woman met her death he saw A man leave the apartment. After the inquest Officer Allen places certain theories before an assistant United States attorney. Still he remains silent concerning the fact that he saw a man leave the apartment. A few days later he places the case before a United States Senator. Still he remains silent concerning the fact that he saw a man leave the apartment. After the case i reopened, Officer Allen, in company with newspaper reporters, vigorously conducts a one-man hunt for missing facts. Still he remains silent concern- ing the fact that he saw a man leave the apartment. Last Monday he told reporters that he .would produce wit- nesses who would swear they saw a man leave the apartment. Still he remains silent concerning the fact that he, himself, was an eyewitness. And now, with the grand jury investigating, Allen reveals himself as the evewitness, He explains his secrecy with the state- ment that he did not want to reveal what he knew until he had completed his own investigation. In the opinion of many this impor- tant testimony by Officer Allen is easily the outstanding development in the McPherson case. P — Hip flasks may be banished from ban- quets in the District of Columbia. Old John Barleycorn may yet be deposed from his position as “master of cere- monies.” —— v Orpheus and his lyre asserted classic power. Ambassador Dawes and his violin melody may prove modernly in- fluential. Py Punishment for Recklessness. The-driver of & bus operating be- tween Washington and Baltimore was yesterday in the Baltimore court found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to eighteen months in the House of Correc- tion. He had driven his bus at a high rate of speed up a hill and, while try- ing to pass another automobile, col- lided with a motor car and caused the death of its driver and the serious in- jury of another. Before pronouncing sentence the judge told the defendant that he was extremely fortunate that the accident was not much more seri- ous, as it might have resulted in the death of almost a score of persons. While probably the penalty imposed in this case was adequate to serve as warning, it may be suggested that the measurement of the offense by the scale of the number of victims is alto- gether wrong. The offense consisted in reckless driving regardless of results. Had there been no deaths, had there been merely a destruction of prop- erty, the driver's act in propelling his heavy” vehicle over a hilitop on the wrong side of the road deserved pun- ishment, and as serious punishment as that administered for the death of his vietim, To put a scale of liabilities into ef- fect in terms of the number of lives destroyed through a reckless act is to weaken the law. Reckless driving should be punished regardiess of the consequences. In the case of & soss of life the offender should not be ad- Jjudged in terms of numbers. In the Bal- And so it rather | As the grand jury is yet to report its findings on the mysterious M’cPl\er-} dents in the history of crime investiga- | followed it closely that it becomes out- | theories | of such testimony have more or less! THE EVENING STAR. timore case, if, as the judge suggested, the collision had caused the death of & score of people the offending driver might have been given a life imprison- ment, whereas it is sltogether likely that the sentence imposed fully suffices as & warning and a deterrent, e A Mission of Hope. On the eve of embarking for the United States tomorrow, Mr. MacDon- ald has issued his farewell message to the British people. It is of no less in- terest to us. I “I go on a voyage of exploration,” the | prime minister says. “The United States ' and ourselves, having the same objects —to establish peace amongsi the na- tions and induce them to feel & sense of security—should proclaim them with united voice. Good and cordial rel tions between us two can improve the ! outlook for peace and give the world an energetic falth, instead of hesitating skepticism.” Mr. MacDonald adds that he is headed our way “to see what can be done,” and asks, “Who dares to say that | | success is Impossible?” Thus the British | premier sets the hallmark on his jour- ney. It is a mission of hope. Hope, where good will is present, s always justified. If any internationat under- taking in our time was ever more bulwarked with good will than the | naval negotiations about to be con- ducted by President Hoover and his dis- | tinguished guest from overseas, the | memory fails to recall it. Doubting Thomases may read comfort for themselves in the guarded good-bye greetings of Mr. MacDonald to his countrymen. They may point with self- | satisfaction to his failure to speak in terms of sunny optimism on the con- jcrete and complicated issues involved in the cruiser discussion. But they have no real leg to stand on. Statesmanship. on the eve of ‘eritical | conversations between responsible lead- ere, talks the language of caution. Statesmanship has another inviolable jrule: It is not accustomed to send a | supremely high official emissary across three thousand miles of ocean on any- thing likely to eventuate as a fool's | errand. | Let us, |‘have hope. with Mr. MacDonald, also - & | No “Boloney” Modesty Here. William L. Ward of Port Chester, [N. Y, has just been re-elected by | acclamation for his thirty-third term as chairman of the Westchester County | Republican committee. When “notified" | of this action, he told the committee: “To be perfectly frank with you, I think you did a very wise thing. You | elected me because you want Republican | | victories, and because you think that | sometimes I am honest and decent. | That's the nearest Il come to speak- ing of what's been going on in the county.” | This frankness is refreshing. Many | times the recipients of organiaation | honors fall to be quite honest in their | acknowledgments. They are prone to declare that the distinction that has | just been accorded to them is unde- | served, that they shrink from the re- | sponsibility, that they think others than | themselves should have been chosen in recognition of abilitles and serviees | And more to the same effect. But Mr. | Ward—who, by the way, is well known |in Washington through his frequent i visits here—suffers from no inferiority ; complex. He knows he is good, and he | makes public avowal of this faith in | himself and his approval of the correct | appraisal of his talents by his fellow | Republicans of Westchester County. ‘} Nobody can quarrel with this atti- | tude of frank self-approval. It is far | more wholesome than the mock modesty | | of those who pretend to demur to rec- | ognition and preferment and advance- | jment. The “drafted for duty” posture |1s not nearly so convincing as those who adopt it think. As a rule it is put | |into the “boloney” category, whereas | | nobody can ever doubt the sincerity of | | such a statement as “I think you did a | Every wise thing.” ———s Secrecy is invoked even to the extent | of demanding that any Senator shall | tolerate the idea of alcoholic drink, if | | at all, only in exscutive session. i — e Boclety is now agog concerning twe | points—Afirst, the order in which guests ! shall sit, and, second, the refreshments | that shall be served. | ———tt—————— In spite of all the warnings, “Don't | gamble.” the price of a Stock Exchange | seat continues to go up. —catena SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Encore, September! | September comes—September goes— When fades the blossoming of the rose. November skies with frostly glow Predict the reign of sleet and snow. Beyond these months the year will bring The May day with its blossoming; Then passing Summer will disclose September, as it comes and goes. Taking the Blame. “You will be blamed if farm legisla- tion lapses.” ping.” said Senator Sorghum. The as- sumption of responsibility, even in case of failure, still implies power.” Jud Tunkins says card playing would be all right if folks would keep their minds on the game and not gossip. Alternative of Silence. The airship travels through the sky; Its wings reluctantly I'll-try. Should it ride safely, all is well; And should it not, I'll never tell. Preliminaries. “T hear you are engaged to be mar- ried * “I am,” answered Miss Cayenne. “When will the minister perform the ceremony?” “As soon as the lawyers get through with the financial details.” “A dragon,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “symbolizes ancient author- ity. It once inspired fear. Now it cre- ates a laugh.” - Distinctions. We're told in language very strong That gambling is entirely wrong. The million-dollar deal is cinched. The penny ante game gets pinched. “Conselence 15 powerful,” said Uncle Eben; “but 1 never knowed 1t to spoll the flavor of a chicken dinner.” | lasting riddle. “That may be better than side-step- S| THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL, fence is a great teacher, they say, but it is a question whether much that it teaches is not worthless, ‘The 8chool of Hard Knocks has as many uséless courses as any educational institution. The trouble with Experience, as & teacher, is that by the time one amasses the information, he is too old to use it. If Experience, the dear teacher, could flv. all her lessons early in life, and done with it, the average person ;'nlght get & great deal more help from . She strings them out, however, much in the manner of an exceptionally long correspondence course, so that by the time the pupll finishes the thing he has forgotten what the first part was about. Experience must be taken with the proverbial grain of salt, in order that common sense may at all times rule. Common sense is better than ex- perience, since what it teaches is handy at the very time a man needs it, whereas the lessons of Experience may never have a chance to be put into operation. It is with Experlence as with rep- | artee, one atways thinks of the thing which should have been said an hour or & day late. %k 80 many of Experience’s lessons are never repeated. ‘The scholar is not called upon to place himself in the old situation, so that his knowledge does him little, if any, 1‘001 Perhaps in another life his experience may come in handy, but the time, the place and the girl are never together again in this, Indifference and Humor are the two enemies of Experience. They are the Bad Boys of her school. No sooner does ‘Teacher put a nice lesson on the black- board than one or the other takes a hand. “What difference does it make?” | sneers Indifference. “I won't meet this | situation again in life, and even f | do_there is no telling how I will ac Humor sticks out his tongue, makes a | wrr face, and whispers, “Well, well, weill Look at Old Lady Experience g‘“l\l her neat little lessons. Ha, ha, i a! The sad truth is that often the les- sons of Elrrlm(" clash with the hopes of humanity. Experience has an im- polite way of slapping one on the nose, to enforce her commands, and the Average human being does not care to be slapped on the nose, even in the in- tereat of truth. Truth 18 something more honored in theory than in fact. Many talk about truth, but few know what they are talking about. What man is only “the bunk” to another. When Pilate asked his famous ques- tion, he propounded the world's most What is Truth, in- deed? In politics one great body of voters believes it holds the solution to an- | other body as fervently believes that | national and international affair just the opposite is the trus solution. Thus it may be belleved that even when Experience does her teaching in true form, her busy self-appointed help- ers interpret the lessons as they wish. P It is with the daily life of human beings, cermed. Politics, art, literature, archi- tecture, drama, radio—these learn from Experience, too, but mostly they are able to take care of themselves. Often the individual does not seem to learn from Experience. Take the WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. President Hoover undoubtedly is up against the political contest of his 'hite House career to date, now that s gone to the mat with the anti- administration group in the Senate on the tariff bill. all hands it is agreed that he faces the acid test of his leader- ship and fighting qualities. For a President to scrap with Congress over the tariff is no novelty. We shall soon see whether Hoover bas to roll up his sleeves and wade in as feroclously as Grover Cleveland did a generation ago. Several Hoover scouts recently crossed the country and have reported at head- quarters in Washington. Their find- ings are pretty unanimous. They hear nearly everybody saying what a dis- tinguished Western 'mocrat now in the Capital acknowledges—that “Hoo- ver is doing a whale of a job.” It's an open secret that the President is confident the country will be with him If he beards the Senate lions fearlessly and tweaks their tariff whiskers rough- ly. In view of the ?ulfllc apathy about the tariff in general, Hoover's political associates register faith that any atti- tude he assumes and maintains toward Congress will command popular support. * ok ox % That the Democratic opposition looks upon the President's flexible tariff manifesto as a declaration of war is indicated by the fact that the enemy's biggest guns at once opened up & counter offensive. Hoover's words had hardly ceased echoing across Capitol Hill before Representative “Jack” Gar- ner of Texas, ranking Democratic ways | and means committeeman, assalled the White House ukase hip and thigh. Then Senator Joe Robinson of Arkansas cleared for action and hurled the full prestige of official Democratic leader- ship in the Senate against the Execu- tive intrenchments. Observers who are not taking sides in the tariff tussle continue to wonder just exactly what the grand Democratic strategy is. Privately Pat Harrison's cohorts con- cede that they'd like to have the Haw- ley-8moot bill on the statute books to shoot at during the 1930 congressional campaign. Meantime they're staging a very Im&ml!ve fight to prevent its passage. llars to doughnuts are al- ready offered that Hoover would veto any bill denuded of the flexible provi- | sion. * kK % ‘Who knows where the word “tariff” | ‘Tarif was a| originally came from? Museulman chief under Musa and in 709 A.D. was ordered to invade Spain with a force of 500 Moors. He founded the seaport town of Tarifa, and eventu- ally it became the place in ancient in where customs were collected on brought in from outside, From 'hat eircumstance we appear to have derived the term and the issue which have kept the American political pot boiling probably will continue to do so for another hundred years to come. W % If you drop into the White House nowadays and ask for “Mr. Hoover,” yeu'll have to say which one. The total at present is three—the President, “Tke™ Hoover, chief usher and doorkeeper since time immemorial, and Lieut. Comdr. Gilbert C. Hoover, just ap- inted a naval aide. It's the first ime on record that so many persons of the same name were entitled to have their mail addressed to No. 1600 Penn- sylvania avenue northwest. Another Hoover in high place is J. Edgar Hoo- ver, director of the Bureau of Investi- ation in the Department of Justice. !&Clll" Hoover is chief accountant of the economic division of the Federal Trade Commission. Dickerson N. Hoo- ver is supervising inspector general of the Steamboat Inspection Service at the Department of Commerce. There is not a cousin in the carload. * K K X Great Britain's “unofficial Prime Minister” is coming to Washington next week with Ramsay MacDonald, He is “Tom” Jones, who has been deputy secretary to the cabinet under five suc- cessive premiers. Jones has the gum- shoe qualities of Col. House. For years he has flitted through British politics and public life with the unobtrusiveness of a U-boat. George, Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin all utilized Jones’ talents, despite their particular party affiliations. When MacDonald held of. fice briefly in 1924, he found ‘“Tom” truth to one | however, that we are most con- | for more than a century, and | case of the glderly man or woman who hides several thousand dollars in a sock, only to have such life savings stolen, ‘There is scarcely a big city in the country which does not have one or more such cases every year. Whenever they occur newspapers devote much news space to them and editorial writers wax elfiunnt in pointing out the foolishness such hoarding. Yet the next year the very same type of case occurs in the same city. Evi- dently the new victim did not read the newspapers, or, if he did, Experience taught him nothing. It is curfous how Experience never counts until it comes home. Then it comes home with a bang, as the saying | 1s. Experience must be individual, per- sonal, to amount to anything. ‘The troubles, trials and tribulations of others leave one cold, perhaps not emotlonally, but certainly mentally. And, despite the claims of some that there is not much intelligence displayed in life, it is certain that emotions do not wholly occupy the human fleld. The mind sees and digests and re- solves to profit by the experiences ot others, but when the situation arises no one can say what he will do. Every one has made his plans as to what he would prefer to do if he woke up in the night and found a burglar in the room, but most people are willing to admit that they are not sure just what they would do. He who has leaped up at the flash- light in his eyes and got a bullet for his courage may determine that Experience, the dear teacher, has taught him a lesson. The next time he will le still. But there is no next time! That is one of Experience's little jokes—one which is never mentioned when the value of her school is being praised. x ok o Perhaps the chief fault one may find with the School of Hard Knocks is that by the time one has completed the pre- scribed courses he is too old to make any good use of them. Perhaps there are few men who, if their honest opinions on life could be gotten, would not like to do certain things over again in their lives. The gist of their remarks would beé that they would do them an entirely | different’ way. Perhaps they would | take up another line of work even. | ybe they would adopt a different way of facing the world, an entirely new line of action, especially in regard to contacts with other men. If you should ask them why they do not. take up the new line of work now, | or why they do not at once put into | practice the wisdom Experience has taught them, they would reply with a wry smile and a ahrug of the shoulders, | “I am too old for that now. ‘Too old! ‘That is Life's cruel little joke, one which is made a double-barreled affair when Experience teaches her lessons. ‘They are wholesome leasons in many instances, but the pupil has taken so long in learning them that his lon white whiskers sweep the ground. “Under such and such conditions, saye Experience, wisely, “you must leap quickly to one side.” | "'The old graybeard, whose muscles| must have long gone past the leaping stage, smiles sadly as he looks at his | withered legs, but he saya nothing. ! What can one say to Life and Expe- rience? And. if he says it, what good | will it do? The trouble with the School | of Experience is that it takes up too | late and finishes too soon. 1 Jones at No. 10 Downing street and took | him over along with the rest of his | majesty’s government. Jones, like bis resent chief, i3 of humble origin. As| | his name indicates, he's A Welshman | |like Secretary of Labor Davis, having | | been born as the son of a coal miner {in Rhymney Valley, Wales. or o ow | willlam Jennings Bryan is no longer | the only “boy orator” to maks the Congressional Record. A lad literally | answering that descrip! has just | been immortalized by having his prize effort on the platform published in the | official gazette of the House and Senate. He is Lex King Souter of Willlam Jeweli | College, Liberty, Mo. Early this Sum- | mer Souter won the national inter- | collegiate oratoricak contest on the Con- stitution, held at Los Angeles. Souter was given first place by six of the seven judges, an achievement not. heretofore | duplicated in a final contest. Souter's ]mmy was passed upon by 18 judges, and he received first place from 16 of | | these judges. Senator Hawes, Demo- | | crat. of Missouri, secured the insertion | of the winning oration in the Congres- sional Record. * ox o All Wilsonians in Washington, and { many other places, are observing with | pride the spirited rejoinder just made | | by Joseph P. Tumnlty to Prof. Walter | B. Pitkin of Columbia University. Pit-| kin recently asserted in his book, “The | Psychology of Happiness.” that Wood- row Wilson was the victim of w “secret | infirmity.” The war President’s devoted | | secretary attacked Pitkin's statements | | in hammer-and-tongs fashion, claiming in so many words that the professor | | had simply added to the Nation's al- | | ready ample supply of bunk. One of | | the infirmities Wilson had, Tumulty ad- | mitted, was “being bored whenever he read such stuff as Pitkin's.” Tumulty dares Pitkin to produce chapter-and- verse evidence of the “infirmity” charge, and the professor says he's try. ing to get the sources of his informa tion to permit him to spill the beans. * ok % % The very latest fashion note in the Senate is the brand-new mustache sported by Senator Clarence C. Dill, | | Democrat, of Washington. For the past two years the boyish statesman from Spokane has been doing his best to overcome his youthful appearance. One ! of his recourses was to get married. Dill was only 45 last week. (Copyright, 1920.) ——oe—s Man to Man. From the Butte Daily Post. When Premier MacDonald comes to Washington next month, London ad- vices say,"he is not going to bring along a stafl of naval or technical experts. He doesn't consider that necessary. His equipment will be approximately suit case and a golf bag. There will be little ceremony. It will be just Ramsay MacDonald paying a friendly visit to Herbert Hoover and talking things over man to man. This is shockingly informal to a cer- tain type of diplomatic mind. Yet it is in this very fashion that some of the most notable feats of international statesmanship since the war have been accomplished. More than one European crisis has been adjusted by Briand of France and Stresemann of Germany holding soclal confab without even the presence of secretaries. It may be that out of informal conversations at the White House and in the President’s Virginia camp may come final adjust- ment of the perplexing armament problem. What diplomacy needs more than anything else is the human touch. Men as individuals usualiy get along pretty well together. But statesmen often seem to forget, when they assemble in their solemn conclave, that nations are only collections of men and women. ———te Camera Tr: g. From the Worcester Evening Gazette. Early as it is in the foot ball season, the college squads seem to be rounding into shape for the photographer. e No Question Then. From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. A writer says the motor is now used | in every walk of life. It seems so when you are out for a Tribute to Teachers Who Develop Reasoning To _the Editor of The Star: I wish to express my a lation for the manifold benefits wm have d he system of public achools of Washi I am thankful for the high of learning and understanding of the teachers in whose classes I have been and particularly for their fundamental form of teaching. This form o teaching to which I refer is that in which the English teacher has one learn the thought of a poem rather than the words; in which the mathematics teacher has one learn the principles on which the the formulae are , rather than the formulae themselves; in which the science teach- er has one learn the relation of sll things in the cosmos rather than gen- era, numerous laws and formulae or atomic numbers; and so with all other branches of study, too numerous to mention, the prime motive in which is to make the pupil think, to reason for himself. No motive could be more con- structive to personal and world hap- piness than that one. Notwithstanding the worthiness of the vrlllcllyh of teaching and its grati- fying results in many cases, the scholas- tic records show that those students who have reaped the full benefits of this opportunity to apply their reason- ing faculties constitute s minority in many schools, a pitiful one. Surely it is not true that the majority are mentally incapable or do not have the same teaching as those who achieve scholastic honors. But the fact re- mains, and 1 belleve from my ex- perience in those schools that these pupils are given a problem for which they are not equipped, and, therefore, lack ability and consequently effort for achievement. They are babes before a Herculean task. Their iliative powers are undevelopsed. One cannot successfully master exercises in reason or even take a satisfactory interest in them when its first principles have not been instilled in hKn. Nor would we, who have succeeded in some meas- ure, have attained what we have in thought had it not been for our forti- tude in gleaning from the most hap- hazard, indirect teaching s working knowledge of logic. Only the most zealous of students are able to obtain 1t, imperfectly, for themselves. I think there is nothing more con- ducive to world peace, mutual sincerity among men and search for truth than the fellowship of thinking, understand- ing minds. 1 would that every grad- uate of the high school know the joy of association with intellectual com- panions. Yet the majority are turned out with an atrophied intellect into the world to take their own blind and narrow ways in falsehood, insincerity, uperstition, susceptibility to propa- ganda, imprudence, prejudice, selfish- ness and resistance to law, science, art and religion. These are not for the most iplr'— the product of a bad will, but of brain, As a graduate of the public schools T honestly express my opinion of them by saying that there should be incor- porated in the scheme of education the subject of logic from the time the child learns to add and subtract in order that more men and women may have what but a few have so far got- ten unconsclously from some happy in- cident in their youth or childhood or diligently searched from pure Jove of it. This, I believe, would produce a majority of real students and create a universal fellowship, which would, in turn, cease wars, elevate the standards of the world, and lead to a better race of men than now exists, the most of whom have been raised without knowl- edge of lglc. truth. 'HARLES CRITCHFIELD. ————— ) 7 i [Protest Against Slaughter Of Pets in Mt. Pleasant To the Editor of The Star: Can nothing be done to stop the wholesale massacre of dogs and eats in Mount Pleasant? Last week six dogs. between Irving street and Columbia | road. were poisoned. and last Sprii eight cats—my beautiful Maltese among them-—were poisoned. All died in eon- vulsion: A crowded city is no place for ani- mals, I know, but since we have them with us, Jet us be humane. There are all kinds of noises in our city streets, In the crowded section, where I live, there is radio playing, there | to be dismantled and their machinery | is loud laughter and honking of auto- mobile horns until late at night. There is no thought for those who go early to bed. yet the bark of a dog {or the cry of a cat is frequently fol- lowed by torture and death. Is there not lack of mutual consideration? Let those who own animals try to keep them in the house at night, remember- ng always they are what God and evo- iutlon has made them. ‘There are hospitals for our sick, and a hig country to live in. This one-sided complaint makes me think of the woman who wanted her neighbors to keep quiet between 3 and | 4 in the afternoon. because she wanted to sleep. She said she knew she would not hear a sound in the back room, but she wanted to sleep in the front one. Secretary Davis says he hopes the! time will come when people will live in ' the country and come to the city only for supplies. I hope the time will come when the: will be mutual consideration. The man who dashed a cat's brains out against a tree because she disturbed him in the morning, the man who threw boiling water on a dog and the man who kicked a starved, tottering kitten into the street with his heavy boot in a later civilization will be punished as they deserve. The mills of God grind slowly, but | they grind exceeding small. KATHARINE BIRNEY SEIP. ——o— Hoover’s Post Office “Reform” Is Discussed From the Baltimore Sun. President Hoover's proposal to put the postal service on a “business basis” L‘i subject to somewhat conflicting inter- pretations. Some view it primarily as a plan to inaugurate a postal coun ing system that will show clearly what services are provided at a profit or loss, and why. Others see it as a de- sign to convert the postal service into a “go-getting” business organization, ‘nud on the profit-making prin- ciple. If accounting reform is the main feature of the plan, it is a good one. When the Post Office Department a ministers subsidies to the merchant ma- rine, commercial aviation and certain types of publications there is no justification for tossing them loosely into a postal deficit which obscures the true nature of the transactions. They should be clearly labeled, no matter how much the subsidy recipients resent it. If, however, the President has in mind for the Post Office to adopt the cardinal principle of business—make a profit or con't produce—he is moving on to ex- tremely doubtful ground. He is pro- posing a revolutionary change in Gov- ernment which would shift its major objective from service to money mak- ing—a change which, logically ex- tended, would require the State De- partment or the Navy to show a profit or_close up shop. In view of his necessary familiar- ity with traditional policy of operal ing the Post Office for Jubllc service al not profit, it seems altogether unlikely that President Hoover entertains the idea, attributed to him by some, of try- ing to convert the postal service into money-making institution. And it is even more unlikely that he could suc- ceed even if he harbored such a no- fon. In dealing with a postal deficit of $135,000,000 the major consideration is not its size but what the public is get- ting for its money. At present that is not clear because of loose methods of presenting Federal accounts. When the accounts are ironed out, all sub- sidies labeled and the operating effi- ciency of the Post Office clearly pictured, it will be time to decide on postal rate changes. And it may be good public Rl i e SRR T n ess” in adjust ng these ratas, = a bad, pooriy trained, diseased | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERI ‘This newspaper puts at your disposal & corps of trained researchers in Wash- ington, who will answer questions for you, They have access to the Govern- ment departments, the i museums, galleries and public and to the numerous associations which maintain headquarters in the Nation's Capital. If they can be of assistance to you, write your question plainly, and send with 2 cents in coin or stamps to ‘The Evening Star Information Bureau, Prederic_ J. Haskin, director, Wash- ington, D. C. Q. Has Lillian Gish ever sppeared in & talking movie>—N. V. A. Announcement has been made that Miss will be an adapt: Molnar's “The Swai Q. How many children has Mussolini? —M. G. H. A. Benito Mussolini is the father of five children, the youngest, Anna Maria, born this S8ummer. The other children are: Edda, Vittorio,. Bruno and Romano. ion of Ferenc Q. What author or educator made the statement that there are not more than 50,000 positions open to women of intellect?>—F. P. . Wal B. Pitkin, author and educator, after making a survey of all the important vocations to find open. ings for college graduates said: “In all the arts and crafts, in all lines of busi- ness and industry, in teaching and in sclentific research combined there can be found not more than 50,000 or 60,000 jobs which intellectual women might ever hope to fill and which at the same time would measure up to their intellectual abilities.” Q. How was France's Unknown 8oldier chosen?—A. J. M. A. The French embassy gives ‘the following information concerning the French Unknown Soldier: “Seven un- identified bodies were raised from as many sectors. of the war front and placed in new caskets similar in every respect. Those seven similar caskets were brought nightly to the cellars in Verdun's Citadel. There a French war- blind soldier was directed to chooke one of the exposed caskets. The six re- maining bodies were subsequently in- humed without arks.” Q. What kind amp is used for lighting the Canaveral lighthouse on the east coast of Florida?—A. A. R. the Cape Canaveral lamp consists of & first-order flashing lens with a 55- millimeter Welsbach mantle in the focus using _incandescent vapor as the flluminant. Q. Are bank burglaries on the in- crease_in the United States?—T. C. A. Pigures compiled by the American Bankers' Association show that bank burglaries are on the decline. There were 220 bank burglaries in 1921, 98 in 1925 and only 70 last year. Q. Please mention some authors whose work shows the influence of the Bible—V. 0'G. A. Buch a list is endless, but we cite a few examples: Coleridge said, “In- tense study of the Bible will keep any man from being vulgar in point of style.” Danlel Webster said, “If there be anything in my style or thought to be commended, the credit is due to my kind parsnts in instilling into my | mind an early love of the Scriptures.” | A Scotch nurse taught Byron to love | the Bible and his ““Hebrew Melodies” are drawn wholly from the Scriptures. In Robert Burns' * day Night,” there are some 20 biblical | referenc Who founded the Satlors’ Snug L M Q. | Harbor?>—B. L. M. | A Capt. Robert Richard Randall |established this home for worn-out | sailors. It was opened August 1, 1833, 1 and today is one of the richest founda- | tions in the United States. Its hold- ings are said to be valued at more than $30,000,000. Q. Is it true that Russia is to mov {an_entire clock factory to Moscow?— +d. . Trust has purchased two American | watch and clock factories which are |and equipment shipped to Moscow. It | is expected that production will be re- | sumed there in 1831, with an output of /1,200,000 watches annually and 1,500,- | 000 clocks. | Q. What does the play of that nam P. R. A U. R." or Rossum's Universal i Gish's first talking picture | A. The illuminating apparatus for | kerosene ! ‘The Cotter's Satur- | A. The Soviet Precision Machinery | . U. R.” stand for in | C J. HASKIN. Robots, is the title of the by Karel Capek. Q. What aviator made the prediction that men will be flying as fast as 750 miles an hour in the future?—T. E. A. M. Bleriot is said to have this prediction. Q. What is the purpose of painting | names of towns in large orange letters n the roofs of stations along the Pennsylvania line?>—E. B. A. These letters are used as sign ts for aviators. The Pennsylvania ilroad is co-operating with the Gov- ernment and aviation authorities in marking the roofs of its stations and other buildings with these orange let- ters. The letters are 10 feet high and | under normal conditions can be read | at an altitude of about 4,000 feet. play written | e Q. Please give the names of some gmgmA landscapes by Americans.— A, Four Americans are famous Metcalf; “September Fields.” by | Garber;" “Woodland Interior,” by Emil | Carlsen, ! @ When was the Chinese Eastern | Railroad built>—S. D. S. | A, The Chinese Eastern Railway wa: | built in the 90s with capital furnishec | by the Czarist. government. Economi- cally, it was and is a short line of great | value, cutting off about 1000 miles | between Chita and Vladivostok | compared with the main line of the Trans-Siberian Rallway, which curves northward into Russian territory along | the line of the Amur River. | @ Wny was Harry Sinclair's sen- tence lengthened after he began to serve his time?—C. B. K. A. When he first entered jail he was ‘rr'dldwd 'I'l;“n gfl-fll_v un'rncc’ im- | upon him for contempt of t le’ when he defled the ‘Evfl leas | investigators five years ago. On Ju |3, 1929, it was annomnced that Harry F. Sinclair must spend six months in jail | for jury shadowing. | == | Q. Why is grease paint used for stage make-up’—A. G. | A. Grease paint is required for use on the stage, as this make-up has the advantage of staying on all the svening, |and even if it cracks. the audience is | not close enough to notice. Q. Where is Yehudi Menuhin, the young boy violinist, this season?— W. W. K. A. He it now studving in Basel, Switzerland, with Adolf Busch. one of | Germany’s foremost violinists and com- posers. Q. What connection did the late |Jesse Lynch Willlams have with Princeton?—H. H. R. A. Jesse Lynch Williams, playwright and novelist. was a graduate of Prince- ‘ton University. He was the first editos of the Princeton Alumni Weekly. Dur- ing ha undergraduate days, Mr. Wil- Iliams was president and eaptain of the gun club. director of the Univer- | sity “Tennis Association. treasurer of the athletic beard, one of the founders | of the Tiger Inn Club, editor of the | Nassau Literary Magazine and class poet. Perhape his most ambitious ‘writing is8 “The History of Princeton University.” written in collaboration with John De Witt. | Q. How much illiteracy is there in Virginia?—J. O'B. A. Tiliteracy in Virginia has been | substantially reduced since 1920. Be- {tween 1920 and 1925 the number of illiterates in the Old Dominion be- tween 10 and 20 vears of age was cut |in half, the reduction being from 28.- 1456 to 14.072. No census has bsen taken in the State since 1925, but the authorities of the State Board of Ed- |ucation say that another marked re- duction has been effected in the past four years. The 1928 General Assembly |raised the minimum school term to even months. Q. Was it true that Ponce de Leon came Afl %"’"'" o find eternal youth? A. There is little in the original narrative concerning Ponce de Leon to substantiate the legend that the traveler was moved to go adventuring in search of a fountain of perpetual youth. . Q To what depth do submarines submerge?—K. W. A. Submarines sometimes submerge o a depth of 300 feet, but the ordinary depth to which they submerge ranges to about 285 feet. —HR. Kind Words for | Revised estimates of the dime novel of a former generation are offered by the public as one of the authors of the | “Diamond Dick” and “Nick Carter” series, George Charles Jenks, is buried | at the age of 79. It is recognized that iuveral writers in turn wrote these sto- ries of adventure. but Mr. Jenks fis credited with having produced a sub- stantial number. It is pointed out that jmany enthusiastic voung readers of these thrillers of yesterday have turned out to be fairly successful citizens and this perhaps helps to remove the an- clent prejudice. Many books of today, it is suggested, are far more devastating than Jenks' wild tales. “It is realized now.” according to the Rock Island Argus, “that his writings did not demoralize boys. In contrast to the vicious stuff that is now eas/ly ob- tainable, Jenks' stories were absolutely harmless. They thrilled a former gen- eration of boys and they were entranc- ingly interesting. | turned out some excellent novels. But {his “Diamond Dick" stories will be re- membered by some readers when his | more ambitious undertakings are for- gotten.” Looking back. the Willlamsport Sun wonders “if they were dangerous beyond the fact that they were so tempting that they Jured many a boy from his chores” and caused him to disobey pa rental edicts against them. Compared with magazines and other publications which are read today, not only by boys, but by their sisters and their parents, they would probgbly be considered clean, wholesome reading,” concludes the Sun. The Evansville Courier feels sure that “there was nothing evil in the that “virtue was rewarded unfailingly and vice was punished,” and that “in their forthright virility they were infinitely better for youth than a lot of the silly, | sentimental and sexy fiction that fills the land today.” “Once despised by the discriminating and fulminated against from the pul- pit,” says the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “Nick Carter and his paper-back con- temporaries have assumed a_certain re- spectability in these. their later years. The novels that were sold for a dime, and often from under the counter, are now collectors’ items, and their first editions bring good prices.” The Wor- cester Evening Gazette believes that “were Mr. Jenks in the vigor of his art today, his name, in all probability, would be on every one's lips and in the realm of finance he would be rapidly over- taking Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller and J. P. Morgan.” The Gazette is “convinced that as literature the stories are just as good as the average Western or detective story current today.” “A search through the attics of many of our best citizens, men who have turned out remarkably well” asserts the Providence Bulletin, “would reveal an a five-foot shelf df Jenks' ‘That paper points out that “to the dauntless quality of Diamond Dick’s mind was added marvelous grace and a sense of fair play. Anxious parents overrated his villainy.” adds the Bul- letin. “In the light of the movies, his fictitious example es quite ex- eraplary. Not for his wickedness should | of Mr. Jenks took to | more serous writing later in life and | Diamondwi)}ck Inspired by Writer's Death he have been condemned. but for the | astounding unreality of his conduct.” | The Minneapolis Star feels sure that "'Mr. Jenks had the right idea, even though he was a little ahead of his | time.” The Columbus Ohio State Jour- ,nal holde that while “the current prod- juct may be safer and may stick closer i to facts, it is doubtful if it surpasses. or |even equals. the quality of thrills that | enveloped Diamond Dick and Nick Car- |ter—a quality that was enhanced b | cause they were proscribed in the best social circles. | Less favorable is the attitude of the | Long Beac! Press-Telegram. which | comments: “Of course. the stories had | no literary value. They .could not have, |being turned out in such wholesale uantities (an average of one story a ay). Nor did they have moral value. Their tendency was demoralizing, as were many books which frll into the hands of boys of a generation agn— books exploiting fanciful and fictional feats of ruthless gunmen and outlaws.” | _ Similarly the Des Moines Tribune- Capital voices mild condemnation: “Men now old recall when they used to | wonder how any mind could conceive the difficulties and the solutions which came in these stories. The answer is in | the negative: no mind could. The writ- |ers simply did not use their minds | 'Most any one could have written the |Frank Merriwell and Nick Carter “!(orll'.t_ and, ax we know, 'most any ol |did. There was the formula, and per- | haps if there is to be any credit give: {1t must go to the one who invented {that, It was productive of good tales, | if not great stories.” | “Nick Carter, of course | preted by the Flint Daily Journal, | “flourished before the day the super- | eriminal. He had to do with direct ac- |tlon and rough stuff. * * * He was certainly a resourceful chap. But Ca ter, as a detective, never had to con- ‘rend with those crimes which required |a great deal of deduction. He usually knew who the criminal was and his job was to catch him.” The Dayton Daily News thinks that ‘'Jenks lived to see his literary types be- come extinct, Public taste for the detec. | tive mystery thriller is as keen as ever,” concedes the Daily News, “but now, in- stead of Nick Carter it demands a Craig Kennedy or a Philo Vance. Science and subtlety have supplanted the old strong- arm sleuth, who, single-handed, routed the desperadoes and restored the jew- jels. Murder is done in our modern ‘thrillers’ with finesse and the guilty person comes to justice via the. same route. The same springs of human emotion are released by modern fiction, but the characters and their back- ound are in keeping with the chang- n&phylle.l world.” evertheless, the modern looks back llrnn the past with recognition of the old pleasure. The Bellingham Herald recalls the scenes as “many an anxious mother of the day finally located her | Tom, Dick or Harry buried in either ‘Diamond. Dick” or “Njck Ce§ter” thrill- ers, while in classrooms man § an appar- P'l‘ltly studious youth was befig thrilled th the same adventu der cover protecting textbook. ~e as inter-