Evening Star Newspaper, November 24, 1929, Page 34

THE EVENING STAR . With Sanday Merning Edttion. WASFINGTON, D. C SUNDAY.....November 24, 1920 THEODOR® W. NOYES....Editor A i The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: SaTAYS icago Office: uropean Ofict Rate by Carrier Within :ae City. per month % | the waves. And who in the present gen- Orders mav be sent NAtional 5000. Dally only Bundey only Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use tor republication of all rews di Patches credited to it or not otherwise cre | dispatches herein are also reserved. Character Education. A proposal to establish in’the public schools of Washington a course in! “character training” has been given fa- vorable consideration by the Board 0(‘ n of more than | passing int-rest and importance. It may | be the' initial move of ths next great advance in public education. The work | in thes District schools, if it actually is start'd in the near future, may be a pioneer trail blazing for the whole coun- try. The development of character in the past has been left largely to the home and the church. It has been considered largely a religious function with which the public school had no business to in- terfere. From the start, public educa- tion has been subjected to the criticism that it trained only the brain and body and that in the very nature of things in a country of complete religious freedom it could do nothing more. Yet certainly the building of char- acter is more essential to the individual and mor: desirable to the community than the training of the mind. Intelli- gence, after all, is a secondary factor in the happiness and progress of men and women. It sinis almost to insignifi- cance in comparismn with such qualities as will, fortitue'e, courage, industry, honesty and hoi*—and both from the idealistic and the practical viswpoint. Can the public school enter this field? ‘There is good reason to believe that it can and that it should. In the past there has been much confusion concern- ing the essential nature of “character.” Folks thought that individuals brought their characteristic ethical reactions into the world with them and that fundamental changes could be brought about only by religious training and associations. It now generally is recognized that this is not true. Religion will always remain one of the most powerful “condi- tioners” of character, but a technique of character education is being devel- oped, which ca2 be employed on an en- tirely non-sectarian basis. After all, the fundamental virtues are practically the same for all creeds. Courage, honor and loyalty are non-sectarian. Admittadly - character education di- vorced from home and church is some- thing new in the world, requiring some readjustment of thinking regarding the mechanism of the human personality. But during the past few years great progress has been made in certain ex- perimental institutions. Public educa- tion cannot continue indefinitely to ig- nore this progress. At first the tork in the Washington schools is likely to be cautious and con- fined within close limits. The day may be near at hand, how- ever, when honesty can be taught as well as reading, everance as well as arithmetic, courage as well as algebra or Latin. We may be at the dawn of an era in education when sturdy characters can be developed as well as sturdy bodies— and all without any intrusion into the Qprovince of the church. ———— For the first time in all his long, ener- getic career Clemenceau was compelled to admit a stats of hopelessness. Even in mortal illness the “Tiger's” courage stood by him to the last. — . Steam once was terrifying as it was used in locomotives. Now it is more to be dreaded in a carelessly attended heating apparatus than in a railway engine. ——— ‘There is something to envy in the career of the patient police officer who contents himself with chalking motor cars and does not aspire to sensational fame —e—————— A Revolutionary Airplane. ‘When plans were first announced for the now famous Dornier D-OX, which only recently established a world record for either heavier-than-air or lighter- than-air craft by soaring aloft and cruising for an hour with 169 persons aboard, much skepticism was expressed as to the success of so large a plane. But now fast on the heels of the rec- ord-smashing feats of Dr. Dornier's “dream” of a few years ago comes the anncuncement of a ship to be bullt by American interests that will dwarf in size even the huge boat that has been making flying history over beautiful Lake Constance. According to present plans, the Amer- ican air liner will carry five hundred passengers and crew of one hundred. It will cost approximately five million dollars and its twenty thousand horse- power, it is expected, will drive it at speeds upward of one hundred miles an hour, The builders have even gone so far as to predict that great altitude ocould be obtained with this revolution- ary boat and that in the upper strata a speed far in excess of that ever previous- 1y cbtained by aircraft could be reached and held during the journey between London and New York. ) If there were skeptics of the Dornier boat, what will there be for this one? Approximately five times as large and with neerly doubled horsepower the American craft will, indeed, be gi- gantic. The single wing of the Dornier is ten feet thick and is one hundred and fitty feet long. The size of the wing necessary to lft the craft from the ground can easily be imagined. The twelve motors of the German sensation sweep the boat into the air in less than a minute with a total weight of approximately fifty tons. The twenty or more engines of the pro- posed flying boat will have to lift a far greater burden. But fantastic as these plans sound the present generation has come to be- lisve that almost anything is possible. It is only necessary to go back rela- tively a few years when all boats that floated on the surface of the water were made of wood. The idea seemed ridic- ulous at that time that hulls fabricated of steel and iron would successfully ride eration and in the very recent past would have believed that the twist of & knob on an inexpensive apparatus in his own home in Washington would be able to bring instantly a musical pro- gram from San Francisco, more than three thousand miles away? Yet ships of iron cleave the seas on regular sched- ule and a voice on the West Coast is heard as easily as if it were in the same room with the listener. So scoffers are likely to find them- selves confounded, even at a project which involves the carrying through the air of six hundred persons from Eng- land to the United States. The only thing to do, it would seem, is to wait and see and be appreciative of the good fortune to live in such a marvelous age. o The Lie Detector. A sensational confession of the murder of an Annapolis man pre- sumably has been secured through the use of a mechanism designed to detect falsehood. This particular “lie detector” has the additional claim to respec- tability that it is sponsored by August Vollmer, perhaps the country's leading scientific criminologist. Nevertheless the description of its use is in itself sufficlent warning not to jump to con- clusions, for we cannot be sure that the mechanism had any direct relation to the confession. Courts, it is likely, will continue to frown upon the use of such devices in securing evidence. There is nothing mystical about “lie detectors.” They are all based upon the well established principle that emotional changes are accompanied by certain measurable physiological changes, such as increase in the heart beat or blood pressure. Now the transi- tion from truth to falsehood also would be accompanied by an emotional change in most Instances. So we have, ap- parently, a direct relation between Iying and the changes recorded by the machine. So far, so good. Some device of this sort might be of value to detectives questioning a suspect by giving them a rough clue as to when he was lying, thereby guiding them as to the features of the case on which they might best concentrate their attention. But the fact that the machine reeorded false answers to certain questioms could not be accepted as evidence, for the pre- sumption rests on altegether too tenuous foundations. Human beings doubtless vary enormously in the amount of emotion which accompanies lying and in the physiological changes which attend the emotional changes. In the present case the suspect, a man with a criminal record, was ques- tioned day after day as to the place, where the body had been hidden. It was necessary to find the body before there could be any case against him. His route from Annapolis to the Pacific Coast was traced and he was asked a seemingly interminable number of specific questions. Finally the examiners hit upon what is now presumed to be the place where the murdered man was | concealed and the suspect’s response to a direct question was to become violent- ly excited and smash the machine. But this method varied little from the ordinary third degree procedure, according to the accounts of the ques- tioning. The man's resistance was broken down by the constantly repeated suggestion in the endless questioning. The “lie detector,” it is likely, was only one element in this suggestion. Any instrument with which the suspect was not familiar might have served the purpose just as well. Every step in the ordeal seems to have been designed to suggest to him the uncanny powers of the machine. The result was brought about not by the mechanism itself, but by the subject's belief in it—a condition perfectly familiar to many physicians. It is noteworthy that detectives thus far have failed to find the body in the locality indicated—also that the man | promptly repudiated the confession, charging that it had been obtained by third degree methods. Probably he is not far from right. ‘This experiment was conducted by men with thorough scientific training and understanding of the principle upon which the “lie detector” mechanism is based. But almost simultaneously comes word from an Arkansas county seat of a confession obtained by use of an electric chair—little short of torture over an extended period. It was operated by a country sheriff, pre- sumably with a very amateurish knowl- edge, at the best, of psychological and physiological principles. The result in both cases was the same. The Arkansas judge admitted the confession, since the accused man did not repudiate it. But he wisely ordered the sheriff to break up the chair and to discontinue obtaining confessions by torture. ‘The “lie detector” may have a future, but it still falls far short of that degree of reliability which the law must de- mand in accepting evidence. S Senators often protest that they are discourteously assailed. Now and then a Senator demonstrates that he is fully able to take care of a situation that seems to call for retaliative invective. o A snowfall is never regarded as a very serious threat excepting once in four years, just prior to inauguration. . Earthquake and Tidal Wave. Reports of the havoc wrought by the earthquake and tidal wave on the southern coast of the Burin Peninsula are still incomplete, but estimates place the number of persons swept to sea and drowned at more than forty and the damage in the neighborhood of a million dollars. Jutting out in a narrow strip on the coast of Newfoundland, Burin felt the full force of the quake which terri- fled residents of the small community just as dusk was falling. Women and children rushed into the streets and [ THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. ¢, NOVEMBER 24, 1929—PART TWO. “THANKSGIVING” BY THE RIGHT REB!". JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D, LL. D, was thrown into a frenzy. It was only with difficulty that the residents were persuaded to return to their homes. An hour or so later a great roar from the sea was heard and a wall of water estimated to be front twenty to forty feet high engulfed the peninsula, carry- ing with it in its dash all those who had not sought higher ground. Few persons in the United States have ever seen a tidal wave and prob- ably few have any desire to see one. It must indeed be a terrifying expe- rience. A mountain of water suddenly appears from the sea, moving with a force that no human can check. Solid- 1y built houses are like 50 much drift- wood before its mighty rush, while humans are tossed around in the swirl- ing water like match sticks. The wave spends itself, leaving devastation in its wake. Tidal waves almost invariably follow earthquakes, the tremor on the bottom of the sea causing an agitation which extends to the surface. The Japanese probably have more experience with phenomena of this kind than any other people and they have found it the part of wisdom to evacuate the coast im- mediately following a quake. It seems a pity that the population of Burin did not immediately seck safety after the earth tremor. But, as in all disasters of magnitude, the thoughts of the ter- rified residents probably did not go be- yond the horror of the earthquake to see that a greater horror was to fol- low. The people of Burin have learned a tragic lesson. The entire world hopes | that it will be the only lesson of its kind. r—ee— Disgraceful Court Congestion, If the President’s National Commis- sion on Law Observance and Enforce- ment is in need of a demonstration of futility on the part of the legal ma- chinery, none is more readily accessi- ble than our own District Police Court. There, according to figures compiled by the assistant United States attorney in charge of all cases other than those involving the prohibition laws, the docket is so congested that a man de- manding a jury trial today must wait for about two years before his case is called. The Police Court machinery is four hundred cases behind schedule. Such a condition may be explained by the lack of facilities and personnel. But it is notito be excused and should be remedied. For it constitutes a men- ace to law enforcement and an injustice to the accused as well as to the accuser, An arrested suspect who asks for a trial by jury is entitled to one, and the Con- stitution promises him a speedy one. But he may be forced to spend months and evgn years in jail before his case is called. On the other hand, he may be released on bond. Two years pass and the charge against him is “cold.” Wit~ nesses have possibly disappeared, or their memory of the incident has be- come hazy. Rather than spend the time and money necessary to bring the case to trial, the District attorney will nolle prosse and a mian who maj be deserving of punishment goes free. This deplorable condition is not con- fined to the Police Court. A plaintiff filing suit in the District Supreme Court today may expect a wait of from two to four years before hearing it called for trial. Crowded and congested court dockets have become too familiar in this coun- try.. One great difficulty is that the condition is accepted too readily as a necessary evil. It should not be accept- ed nor tolerated. If money is needed to correct what is wrong, money should be made available. It could not be bet- ter spent than in restoring law and order to the courts. —————————— A Maine woman is the mother of twenty-five children. Her name, Mrs, Sangello, is worthy to. be remembered as associated with a great and honora- ble career. e Whatever the law may say about a purchase of fllicit drink as & felony, the science of medicine is fully agreed that it is risky business. ————————— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Candles. With lamps the roadway is ablaze, As motor cars speed by. And yet we turn to other ways When wintry cheer draws nigh, And make the feast a pleasant sight By going back to candlelight. ‘We sing the song of bygone hours And tell the fables quaint, About the all-pervading powers Of childhood’s favorite saint— And all the world again seems right ‘When looked upon by candlelight. Simplified Situation. “My wife and I will dine by ourselves on Thanksgiving day,” said Senator “So that we can make the seating arrangements without any question of soclal precedence.” Jud Tunkins says he went hunting the other day and is still trying to fig- ure out how much one rabbit is worth in ammunition, not countin’ the time of himself and dog. Departed Distinction. Distinguished prisoners do not fail ‘To show a suave elusiveness. ‘We are inclined to fear our jail Is losing its exclusiveness. ! Strictly Business. “How about a night club?” asked the sales manager. “Don’t bother about me,” said the out-of-town buyer. “What I'd really like you to do is to figure the limit on what you are willing to spend for my entertainment and then deduct the amount from the cost of my bill of goods.” “To worry over small things,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “is to waste the energy you might wish to reserve for some truly important enter- prise.” Justice Extempore. In gangland it is never thought ‘That justice is denied. A rascal by the law uncaught Is “taken for a ride!” “Don't flatter yohself,” said Uncle Eben, “dat Satan is hidin’ around ready to grab you unawares, De way Satan * works is to take it easy an’ wait fob wmmucmq-@nwm you to come an’ ring de doorbell.” ishop of Text: “Offer unto Qod thanksgive ing."—Psalms, 1.14. ratitude for favors and blessings rrgived is the warrant -for blessings and favors yet to come. In our indi- vidual and corporate life nothing is more disheartening or disappointing than ingratitude. It was this that made King Lear cry out: o “How sharper than a lzrpenm, 1t is to have a thankless child!” jlure to acknowledge gifts and bl;:tngs conferred not only chills the heart of the benefactor, but works to the hurt of the beneficiary. To be thankful for favors big or little is a mark of refinement and an evidence of good breeding. We have often noted that those who are the quickest to respond to a favor conferred are those who have the finest feelings. An ex- pression of cordial and deep apprecia- tion is like oil that lubricates the ma- chinery of life. Like the gift of mercy, “it blesses him who gives and him who takes.” To remember daily the gifts that God bestows upon us serves to make us more conscious of the real values of life. The mere expression in prayer of gratitude deepens in us not only our sense of dependence upon God, but gives us a finer sense of our own fil‘ue of usefulness in the scheme of e. When & nation is called, as we are, t§ recognize a day of , it serves to emphasize our solidarity and the richness of our common herl:r. and at the same time brings vividly before us our common dependence upon Him who is the giver of every good and perfect gift. It was the Roman Emper-r Constantine who said to the sculptc © who was carving his figure, “I wish you to carve the figure kneel- ing, in the attitude of prayer, for it was from that posture I rose to great- ness.” As individuals or as a people we never have a truer consclousness of our corporate life and our intimate interrelationships than when we kneel to acknowledge the gifts and blessings that we commonly receive. Thus, Thanksgiving day, rightly interpreted, places fresh emphasis not only upon Washington the source of all our blessings, but com- pels us to recognize the closeness of the tie that binds us together in great fellowship. It is the family d of the Nation. are bound together ““for better or worse, affects one seétion for good or affects all. 1t is a demonstrable fact that noth- ing brings us closer together in a great fellowship than a spirit of thankfulness. When we are over-self-confident and self-assured; when, in the language of the ancient Word, we declare, “My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth,” we lose our sense of interdependence one with another and the deeper consciousness of our common dependence upon God. How frequently in households where the patrimony is dispensed to the children do we find that it creates cleavages and the loss of mutual respect and affection. Again, how frequently in households where adversity and misfortune have come do we discover the knitting of the tles of kinship and the evidence of deepened affection. America on this ‘Thanksgiving day, in spite of recent happenings, must acknowledge with gratitude another year of unprece- dented prosperity. Widely scattered as our peoples are, diverse as are their interests, they are the sharers of a com- mon bounty. Surely at such a time and under such conditions it is fitting that we should unite to “offer unto God thanksgiving.” The very act of cor- porate thankfulness tends to break down that which all too frequently divides us into groups and classes; it cffaces dis- tinctions and makes of the Nation itself one great family. Thus the spirit of thankfulness becomes indisp>nsable to our security, our peace and pros- perity. We may worship at different altars, we may express our devotions in ways familiar to us, we may have fel- lowships that have grown dear and helpful to us, but on our national ‘Thanksgiving day we bow as one people before the “Giver of every good and perfect gift” and with humility recog- nize His bounty and our common dependence upon His goodness. il Change in World Court Constitution May Lead to Entry of United States BY WILLIAM HARD. All unknown to the general public, an entirely new aspect—it was disclosed here last week—has been given to the question of the entrance of the United States into the Permanent Court of In- ternational Justice, the so-called “World Court.” Senator Borah's close friend and fellow worker, Mr. S. O. Levinson of Chicago, the originator of the “out- lawry-of-war” idea which developed into the Kellogg-Briand peace pact, has secured from the League of Nations, it is learned, a considerable apparent modification of the League policy re- garding “ldvlmg', opinfons.” The tale of the accomplishment of this feat by Mr. Levinson is one of the most re- markable ,as well as one of the oldest, episodes in the history of diplomacy by amateurs. ; Mr. Levinson went over to Europe en- tirely on his own initiative and responsi- bility, though with the knowledge. and without the disapproval of the State Department, and, after negotiations at London and at The Hague and at Geneva, persuaded the jurists of the League and ultimately the Council and the Assembly of the League to adopt a new article in the World Court con- stitution whereby, in Mr. Levinson's opinion and in the opinion of the, State Department, a very large part of Sen- ator Borah’s main argument against the court has been met and answered in Senator Borah's favor. %% There is not the slightest, doubt that the main motive of the League in mak- ing the change in question was to pl cate Senator Borah and to accommo- date itself to his wishes. It is a novelty indeed in international politics that a great international document should be modified in order to satisfy a legislator who is not in diplomatic life at all and that the modification for this accomplished should have been br: to pass by a gentleman who is not in public life of any sort. ‘The new article in the World Court constitution is in juristic technical lan- gu which is not any too easy to analyze and which will become the main bone of contention among séna- torial debaters just as soon as the pro- tocol of signature of the World Court is sent to the Senate for its consideration. The wording of the article is as follows: “Article 68. In the exercise of its advisory functions the court shall fur- ther be guided by the provisions of the statute which apply in contentious cases, to the extent to which it recog- nizes them to be applicable.” It will be noted that this article re- lates entirely to the topic of the court's so-called “advisory opinions.” These opinions are rendered to the Council or to the Assembly of the League upon the request of either of those two bodies. The power of duty of the court in this respect has been the chief obstacle to American membership in it. Our famous reservation No. 5, attached to our senatorial acceptance of the court on January 27, 1926, was dedicated wholly to defining our American attitude to- ward “advisory opinions” and their methods and consequences. Senator Borah's speeches against the court at that time were centered upon “advisory opinions” and his objections to them. The change now made, as understood by Mr. Levinson and by the State De- partment, can be put as follows: o Whereas formerly there was always a danger that the Council or Assembly of the Léague might request from the court, and might get from it, an “ad- visory opinion” regarding a dispute be- tween two or more nations without the consent of the nations concerned, it is now determined that in “advisory opin- fon” cases, just as in ordinary “con- tentious” cases, the content of each nation must be secured and argument by each nation must be heard before the opinion can be delivered. In our reservation No. 5 we sought to secure this privilege and this de- fense for ourselves. By the new arti- cle 88 in the court's constitution, or “statute,” this privilege and this de- fense are secured, as Mr. Levinson be- lieves and as the State Department also believes, for all the nations of the world as well as for ourselves. In other words, if this view is correct, the American position regarding “advisory opinions” has been universalized and, so to speak, the functions of the court have been “Americanized” and the whole subject of “advisory opinions” has been erased from further controversy. On the other hand, it is not at all known whether or not Senator Borah accepts this view. His general state of muxd on the subject was last expressed in &n interview which he gave to the press on March 20 last. In this inter- view he said: “It is the court’s advisory_jurisdiction which makes the trouble. "If the court Almrly exercised judicial functions and arbitral functions, there would be no hesitancy about joining it and there would be no need for reservations. Or if this advisory jurisdiction were to be exercised only upon reqllaest of the parties concerned, it woyld not be so . objectionable.” * 1t is possible, accordingly, that Sena- tor Borah, who has been the main champion of the opposition to the court, may continue to oppose it on the ground that the advisory functions of the court will eontinue to be exercised, and also, possibly, even on the ground that the] new article 68 does not, in fact, br\n1 it about that “advisory opinions” shall not be rendered except upon consent and upon ice of the nations concerned and interested. ©On either ground, Senator Borah might continue in full consistency to fight the court. Meanwhile, however, from the political and propagandist standpoint, the situation has been pro- foundly altered. Senator Borah's con- stant colleague in peace endeavors, Mr. Levinson, is now outrightly and totally in favor of American acceptance of the court as it stands. In 1926, when the court was last up in the Senate for con- sideration, Mr. Levinson was its most powerful and ingenious private life op- ponent. Now, with the prestige upon him of his successful promotion and completion of the ‘outlawry-of-war” idea, he is satisfied with the court, with its new article 68 added to it,"and he intends to support and advocate Amer- ican entrance into it Before the protocol of signature of the court is sent to the Senate for its “advice and_ consent” the American Minister at Bern. in Switzerland, will be instructed by the State Department to affix the diplomatic signature of the United States to the document. This he has not as yet been instructed to do. It remains possible, of courss, nev- ertheless, that he may receive such in- structions at any time, and the im- mediate step thereafter would be to dispatch the document to the Senate wing of the Capitol. (Covyright, 1920.) Prosperity Plans to Go Before Congress BY HARDEN COLFAX. ess will reassemble December 2 lnfiofll be confronted with the task of considering legislative means of bend- cycle, which threatens to turn down- ward under the Freuure of the psycho- logical results of the stock market de- flation. The administration has announced that it will propose a tax reduction reso- lution which will keep in the pockets of individuals and corporations some $160,000,000, which otherwise ‘will be paid into the Treasury in 1930. There is strong reason to believe that the administration will not frown, even if it does not actually sponsor, bills to increase by substantial totals appropria- tions for public works. A “prosperity reserve” in the form of public works to be executed when fflvm construction lags, thereby stimulating business and industry of all lines, is not a strange term to President Hoover; such a plan was recommended as far back as 1921 by the conference on unemployment, summoned by President Harding, and the distinguished chairman of that con- ference was none other than the pres- ent Chief Executive of the Nation. And in the intervening years he has main- tained contact with the several com- mittees which grew out of the 1921 conference and encouraged their future studies. E It is to be noted that in the meet- ings President Hoover held last week with industrial, business, transportation and labor leaders to consider the eco- nomic conditions of the country and forestall the possibility of a recession in activity of fundamental lines there has been sounded the note of construction— railroad improvement, factory replace- ments, more rapid work on Federal buildings. Even now there may be heard in the distance the honk-honk of good roads advocates approaching to urge that Uncle Sam speed up his program of Federal aid for highway construction, and only a deliberately plarined detour will prevent their arrival to lay the case before Congress at its regular session. And that deep bass whistle borne now faintly on the favorable wind may be understood to be the more and better waterways - boosters, vastly encouraged by recent utterances of President Hoo- ver. The expanded Federal building plan adherents already are on the scene and have made known their ideas. ‘There is nothing of the “grab” in such plans. These three programs have heen rather carefully weighed in the past. ‘There is cause for belief that water- ways and public buildings appropriations will be boosted quite considerably this Winter by Congress. * K Kk in the fundamental soundness of the business and industry of the United States is evidenced by its sponsorship of a tax reduction proposal simultaneously with its calmness, even if its actual cpen encouragement is not yet so apparent, in the face of larger appropriations to take funds out of the Treasury. There is no proposal that any Fed- eral expenditure be made on any fan- Even a tariff-weary Sen- to duty after a respite of 10 days, will not be threatened with brain-fag by a plan it has had before it, and has discussed rather fully at va- rious times, for a half dozen years. In fact, a concrete plan for a “prosperity reserve” was reported to the Senate in April, 1928, in the Jones bill, which sought. by joint executive and legisla- tive action, to expand public works when private construction contracts in any quarter should fall 10 per cent below those of the average of the correspond- ing three months of the preceding three | years—a low level, incidentally, which ! current bullding contracts have not ap- roached by many millions of dollars hus far. The hope has been that Uncle Sam would enact some such law and that States and other political sub- divisions would follo plan permanent. .A huge total of public works has been It reminds us that we | th: for richer or poorer,” and that what | ing upward the curve of the business |gra ‘The confidence of the administration | w suit, making the | Capital Sidelights BY WILL P. KENNEDY. The work of the Federal Farm R Uef Board as one of the principal le lative acts of the extra session of Con- gvess in fulfillment of campaign pledges, nd the nearing completion of the new administration building for the Depart- ment of Agriculture, call attention to ts great branch of the Government. Although the Department of Agricul- fure dates only from 1862 as an in- dependent department, it really traces its origin back to Washington and Franklin. ‘Washington in his last message to Congress advocated the organization of 8 Government branch to care for the interests of farmers; while Franklin, when agent of Pennsylvania in Eng- land, sent home silk-worm eggs and mulberry cuttings, thus setting a prece= dent since followed by United States consuls all over the " world, through whose efforts new and valuable species of plants, fruits and domestic animals have been successfully introduced. ‘The official history of the department dates from 1839, when Congress made a first appropriation of $1,000 for the urpose of distributing seed, investigat- ng agricultural conditions and collect- ing statistics. At the same time an egricultural bureau was created as a division of the Patent Office, which was_then a branch of the Department of State. * ok k% Few of us ever heard of Dr. John N. Taylor of Crawfordsville, Ind., or of A. 8. Salley, jr., of the rical Com- mission of South Carolina, or of Martin Koszta, although the latter figured in one of the stirring events of American history—though we have heard much about Semator Cole L. Blease. ‘The other day, during debate in the Senate, mention was made of the Koszta case. He was a Hungarian pa- triot who was rescued by American sailors from imprisonment on board an Austrian brig-of-war, Because it w an incident omitted in most histories, Dr. Taylor consulted Henry Howe's “Ad- ventures and Achlevements of Ameri- cans” and other sources and wrote a brief review of the stirring affair, which was checked over and O K'd as his- torically correct by Mr. Salley and which Senator Blease has had printed in the Congressional Record as a public document. This is an authoritative ac- count based on the narrative of an American naval officer who was an eye- witness of that thrilling episode, trans- mitted to his brother in Paris and which at the time found its way into the free press of the world. Koszta had followed the fortunes of Kossuth, serving as a lieutenant on his staff.. When the Hungarian revolution was crushed, he escaped to New York and had taken out his first citizenship papers. Subsequently he went to Smyrna to aid his fleeing countrymen. In June, 1853, forces from four Austrian warships seized Koszta to hand him over to the Austrian government, where his name was on the list of proscribed and outlawed. Just then into the har- bor: sailed the United States war schooner St. Louis, under command of Capt. Duncan Nathaniel Ingraham, with a picked crew of 200 officers and men and_well equipped for military contest. The new free republic had sympathized with Hungary in her fight for liberty and had protested vehe- mently against the bloody reprisals of the Austrians. Capt, Ingraham boarded the Austrian brig and demanded the release of an American held prisoner, and was_told there was no such prisoner. Armed with further facts, he boarded the brig the second time and demanded to see Koszta, who was then brought to the deck in chains. Ingraham asked him if he was an American. With despair in his eyes, seeing no chance for es- cape, Koszta replied “I am not.” That night Capt. Ingraham received a letter signed “Humanite,” that assured him Koszta was in America, but that proof of it had been taken from him and would be used against him. Next day Capt. Ingraham, determined at all haz- s to take Koszta his captors, dropped anchor alongside the Austrian brig and cleared for action. Going aboard the brig, he "again ordered 0szta to be brought on deck and again “Are you an American?” Taking courage, Koszta replied, “I am.” Capt. Ingraham then d, “Do you demand the protection of the American flag?” The answer was “I do,” and Capt. In- ham assured him, “You shall have it,” and gave the Austrian commander four hours in which to deliver over the prisoner. While the shores of Smyrna were thronged by the populace, which expected to see a desperate battle, since the fame of the American Navy had already penetrated to that far shore, Capt. Ingraham received a message m the Ameriofn consul to stop ction, as an eement had been reached through the intervention of a committee of leading citizens whereby Koszta was to be released and placed under the protection of the French consul. That night, the night before the Fourth of July, 1853, far from American shores; ‘the American Navy and the American Government were cheered. When the news reached America there was a general demonstra- tion. Franklin Pierce personally ap- plauded Capt. Ingraham's dauntless courage and achievements. Congress voted thanks and a medal to him. In- graham entered the Confederate navy in 1861, but, ‘s there were not enough ships to go aYound, he was made in- spector general of artillery. Scharf’s history of the Confederate navy carries an equally thrilling story of how Capt. Ingraham took the - clads South Carolina and Palmetto State out one morning and licked the Yankee fleet in front of Charleston, temporarily raising the blockade. He died in Charleston nearly 40 years ago at the age of nearly 100. * ok k * Sixty years ago the father of Senator Henry W. Keyes, New Hampshire, was troub by the blowing of sand from a certain part of his property at Haver- hill, N. H., according to a report on file in the United States Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture. In high winds sand would be scattered all over the estate. To correct this state of affairs, in 1870 the elder Keyes planted the sandy lot with northern white pines, brought from a nearby pasture. As a result sand piles are no longer seen on the drives and walks of the Keyes estate, and the planted area covering atout one acre now has a stand of thrifty pines about 60 feet tall. —_——ee—————— We Can't Beat Static. From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Six hundred hunters awaiting the opening of the elk season at the Jeffer- son national forest made so much noise the elk all left the vicinity. Which shows that even noise has its uses, held back this year because of high money rates; a barrier which no longer exists. Th» average expenditure in the United States for public works exceeds £2,250,000,000 annually, all Government agencizs considered. The Federal public bulldings program is a defined plan. Expediting its Mechanical Music Starves Musicians BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Not since Cromwell drove the harpers out of Ireland has there arisen such an outery from the musicians of any land as has been raised by the union mu- sicians of the United States who have found themselves pushed out of jobs by the substitution of mechanical music. Cromwell's motive was somewhat dif- ferent, to be sure. Under the laws— applying fliunlly in England—the harp- ers were classed as “rogues and vaga- bonds” and as such compelled to go to work at some other calling or depart from the land. As a muatter of fact, what largely impelled the Puritans in this action was the fact that the Irish harpers kept alive the spirit of the an- clent Kings of Ireland and that ballads of Armagh and County Mayo could stir up more political strife than a dozen English regiments could quell. In the United States the reason for the musicians’ difficulty is economic rather than political. ‘The American people are restive and light-hearted fundamentally. They like to be on the go. Astrologers and sooth- sayers will tell you that the Nation is ruled by the sign Gemini—a mercurial sign which dictates restlessness and a desire for new ideas in its people. Be that as it may, it is assuredly true that no people in the world are so avid of entertainment. Before the advent of the movie the theater flourished in many forms. Every city and town had its “Opry House.” The term ‘“barn- stormer” arose from the fact that in districts where there was no theater building the early ploneers atended the- atrical performances in barns. Nowhere has the melodrama flourish- ed more luxuriantly than in the United States. The old-time patent medicine | man early learned that the best way to attract attention was to put on a show, however small and amateurish. The street parade is not an American in- vention but reached its apotheosis here. The show has been the thing to the American people since they have been a people. Period of Readjustment. Music_was a necessary accompani- ment. Even an actor piaying Hamlet on a showboat had to double in brass, if the company was poor, in order that there might be music. This inevitably produced a large market for musicians. From tent show to grand opera came a demand. Quite naturally when trade unionism swept over the country, the musicians lost no opportunity for in- creasing their earnings by organizing. | to So today, when mechanical music and the movies have altered the entertain- ment situation, the American Federa- tlon of Musicians has come forward in an effort to better the lot of the union musician thrown out of work by the tens of thousands by the movies, the talkies, and the general substitution of mechanical reproduction for personal performance. This body. which is affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, has started an advertising campaign in an effort to stimulate a popular dem: for the real thing in music. “Ma- chinery,” says an announcement from. the headquarters of the Federation of Musicians, “in the form of mechanical music is elbowing real music out of motion pictures, thus denying to the masses the cultural influence of a e ear 1 e fear is expressed by the federa- tion that the lack of demand for musicians will result in complete ab- sence of incentive to learn to play and that talent will go undeveloped and the Muse of Music fall fainting by the wayside, unable longer to find work at union rates. Music is hard to kill, singing and the | plucking of harp strings being more natural to man than the chnn:dnu of phonograph needles. Nevertheless, the union musicians have unquestionably fallen upon hard times. By the thousands they walk the streets of such cities as New York, Cleveland and Chicago looking for work and, for the most part, in vain. Harsh as this is for the present, observers think it incredible that the day of the personal performer is past forever. The mechanical tide has risen high, but it, like the stock market, is subject to inevitable changes. Philosophy 1s & meager diet for musicians out of work, but there is reason to believe that the mechanical age itself may bring about better times. Public Demanding Good Musfe. For one thing the radio is absorbing more and more of the musicians who have been displaced in theaters and other places of public entertainment. Music cannot be brezdcast unless there is a musician on the -sending end. Further, the wide distribution of radio receiving sets is bringing about an in- creased desire on the part of the public for music. People who never gave music a thought before the days of the radio now are demanding it. And the public taste is being improved, it is claimed. Better music is being demanded and this, obviously, calls for better musicians. It is possible that the swing-back mi find a positive lack of competent musicians, able to meet the public requirements. People used to go to the theater to satisfy the American craving for some- thing to do. A lot of people went, not because they cared for “As You Like It” or “Titus Andronicus,” or even “East Lynne,” but because the theater furnished a destination draped in the aura of joy and relaxation. Actors and musicians, good and bad, obtained many million dollars from American pockets because they furnished a place for a chap o take his girl. Lesser sums were so drawn because the pejformers were artists. So when the movies came along and could be offered cheaper, the people turned to them en masse. Here, too, was a place to go. It was cheaper and the pictures seldom were over one's head. There is little wonder that art drooped, for, after all, unadulterated art is not at a premium among the vast numbers which make up any national audience. Action, melodrama, as me- chanical as possible, is the popular desideratum. It will be remembered that when Will Shakespeare attempted bribe a palace guard to let him through to keep a rendesvous with the Dark Lady of the Sonnets by offering’ him a pass to the Globe Theater, where a Shakespearean drama was playing, the guard expressed a strong prefer- ence for a piece of money which would enable him to buy a ticket for the “‘Spanish Tragedy, a cheap melodrama playing elsewhere. 8o, when the people found the movies a cheap place to go, there th d | sequence, theatrical performances on a new value. No longer did constitute an artistic profession; became a real estate business. large bers of people are willing to 3 becomes valuable. So all the old g- aters, where once the voices of Mantell and Marlowe, Booth and Jefferson, rang, were bought up and turned into movies. ‘With the people willing to come any- way, why pay for the music? 8o, in most of the theaters the orchestras were disbanded. 'When the talkies came, bringing their own incidental rausic, more musicians went. Now the query of the American Fed- eration of Musiclans is: How long is this madness going to last? It is too soon to answer. London Naval Parley to Cost Uncle Sam Heavily BY DREW PEARSON, Judging by the plans which the State consummation would not entail elements of waste; where buildings will be put eventually is a known factor, so is the type of buildings and the approximate cost of each. For two years now the Army rs have been conductin a survey of 142 streams in all parts of the country, looking toward a plan for the comprehensive development of each for improvement of navigation, control and hydroelectric possibilities. Reports are about ready on several groups of these. Viewing the situation broadly, Con- gress next month may, If it so choosss, get down to plans of stimulating busi- nesc and industry without floundering around, for it already has laid the groundwork, the public buildings pro- gram and the waterways survey being the fruits of actions aiready taken by Congress. Affer all, Congress sometimes has looked ahead and it is more likely than not to pour & considerable number of millions of dollars mto u:&uu of sperous e ‘months. Giss t tional Department is making for the London Naval Conference, it will be the most important international gathe: which the United Shus';u o lc‘ll: pated since the Paris Peace Conference. A total of $200,000 is being asked of Congress to pay the expenses of the American delegation to London, to rent two floors in the Ritz-Cariton Hotel, to pay for a steady stream of cables between London and Washing- ton, and to offset all the tips,dinners, taxis and other incidentals necessary in attending a great international con= hen_state en Department officials in- formed Secretary of State Stimson and President Hoover that this rather large figure would be necessary to pay for getting a naval treaty they were some- Wwhat taken back. Neither of them had had previous experience in - conductin, a large international conference mg appeared to be amazed that so mucn money was required. v g Experts who have helped conduct previous conferences, however, believe that more than a quarter million dol- lars will be expended at London by this Government. In proof of this they point out that the Washin Naval Conference cost $252,000, despite the fact that the United States had no steamship fares to g-flw transport lts delegation, no hotel bills to pay for them abroad, nor no cable tolis fo_connect | its delegation with the White House. | American participation in the Pars | Peace Conference, which dragged ouc | for months, cost a total of $1.703,712.06. | It is not contemplated that the ex- penses of the American delegation to lmgion shall run anywhere near this Other international conferences have not been as expensive as the ‘Wash- ington parley, although they have coss the United States a sizable slice of its budget every year. The cost of the Sixth Pan-American Conferencs, which President Coolidge attended at Havana in 1928, cost $75,000. As far as congressional appropriations were concerned, this was not enough, how- ever, and the State Department drew.| the balance from its emergency fund. How much it drew the State Deparu- ment refuses to sy, so that the tota: cost of the Pan-American Conference remains a secret. Congress appropriated $50,000 for the Pan-American Arbitration Conference held in Washington last Winter, ana it also appropriated $75,000 for the expenses of the American delegation to the Preparatory Commission on Dis- armament at Geneva. . The cost of the three-power Geneva Naval Confer- ence of 1927 also remains a secret, since the State Department refuses to divulge the extent to which it had to dip into the emergency fund to pay for it. ok ok ok % ‘The American delegation to London will consist of about 60 to 70 clerks, stenographers, code experts, legal ex- perts and archivists, in addition to the seven full members of the delegation and the naval advisers. They aré plan- ning to take with them a varied sortment of books, documents and pmrhernlll-—enough to fill a consid- erable part of the steamer on which they sall. Secretary Stimson has not yet de- cided what this vessel is to be, due to the fact that he wants to sail on an American liner if possible and there is none available at the date the dele- gation desires to sail. Therefore, either the Olympic will be selected, or else the salling date of the Leviathan will be changed to January 12 instead of January 18. The Olympic salls on January 11, which would put the dele- gation in London on January 17, juse four days before the conference begins. Probably the biggest items of ex- pense after the American delegation arrives in Lofidon will be hotel bilis and cable tolls. Very few people have any conception of the amount of consumed dur an interna- conference in instruc- and forth be- [y _the home R S A B I Fifty Years Ago In The Star i With elaborate ceremonies the statue | of Gen. George H. Thomas at the inter- ' section of Fourteenth street | Horses and Massachusetts avenue in Art. ‘was uinveiled November 19, 1879, in conjunction with the annual' reunion of the Soci of the Army of the Cumberland. statue had attracted—as it still at- tracts—wide and favorable attention as an equestrian work of art. The Star of November 21, 1879, thus com- upon the subject of “horse statu- Tt is always a pleasure to welcome a new work of art and to honor one who deserves thing in the mouth, even though bronze. But while we welcome another equestrian statue and mean to appreci- ate whatever is good in it, we d ex- press some for the comparative absence of other forms of statuary in our public: grounds. as a work of noble art we ean but k that the Greenough Washington in front of the Capitol is worth them all, If those who would honor our military heroes con- tinue to put them all on horseback, they will soon defeat their own objects in a measure. A horse is very useful to & general in the field, but it is not nec- essary to even a genel in bronze, While the world has a few examples of great success in works of this kind, it is nevertheless a dangerous form. ““We can never get beyond the Greeks in these things. The Panathenaic pro- cession, of which we have a fine cast here, is a study for all time. There we are pleased to see finely developed men marching beside ponies. Brumidl follows the worthy example in his latest work in the Capitol. The quadruped cannot be so dwarfed in these eques- trian statues. If anything like a horse is made, it must be a full-sized and noble horse. The man suffers accord- ingly. Between the hero and the spec- lmzut: divldltng the adrn‘l{:ugn of the latter, must necessari nd a T object than the hero.w ek “About all that &orm!t sculpture can to confine itself to We no longer have bodies; or if we have we conceal them, This cannot be helped. Washington, fortu- nately for Greenough, had a form, or is supposed to have had, which would bear exposure. But think—or rather don’t think—how Mr. Lincoln would ap- pear under such treatment! What a subject for a colossal bust was the head of Gen. Scott! And what a subject for a horse's back was the stomach of Gen. Scott! Sculpture in this direction in- evitably resolves itself to this—a human face and a suit of clothes. If those who order these statues will have their works live as works of art, they must accept the inevitable. We have the full- length statue of Gen. Rawlins without a horse, but can any one look at him, his head and brow entirely lost under his hat, without wishing that the sculp- tor had attempted only a grand and worthy bust, with the resolve to accom- plish that or nothing? If he could not ennoble his subject, he should not have belittled it. Yet we suppose he made just about what he was required to make. While jud and enjoying and gievl:l( thlnmt !?I: ! ey works in the nerous sp b they are di- rected, we would whisper to the future committees who arrange the matter that they will best accomplish their ob- ject if they give us the heroes them- selves, pure and simple, or so much of them as modern civilization will per- mit, and that when they shall have put into six grand busts as much money and labor as have been put into our six equestrian statues, and shall have heard the verdict, they will rot soon return to the horses and tailor’s clothes.” government. During a normal the State Department expends about $200,000 on cablegrams for all pur- poses, but this Summer the naval ex- changes between and Secretary an&mmqm W‘memmw