Evening Star Newspaper, December 1, 1929, Page 34

2 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. DECEMBER 1, 1929—PART TWt. -_—— e ——— . - AIE EVENING STAR : ”wlfll Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. ZUNDAY.. .December 1, 1920 THEODORE W. NOYES. ...Editor e R The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: 11th St. and Pennsylvania New York 3 4 o 3 ica Office: ke Michis jean Office; 14 Regent St A;E, o Rate by in the City. Carrier With Star. . .45¢ Ler month ndays Sunday Star Collection made af the end of y be sent in by malil 65¢ per month ver copy each month. or telephone Rate by Mail—Payable in Ma yal Advance. and Virginia. rgini aily and Sunday.....1yr.. $10.00: 1 mo.. 85 * Paily only 1¥r7 $6:00: 1 mo.. 50c unday only : 1 mo.. 4Cc All Other States and Canada. . Paily and Sunday..]sr.$12.00: 1 nio., $1.00 o Ry only 1y s o 38 Junday only Member of the Assoclated - The A is %o the use for republication of all news cis- patches crea it ted in this paper and also .he local rews Bublished herein. All rights of publication of Special dispatches herein are also reserved. _— Over the Pole. ‘These are years of glorious adventure. Man, with fledgling wings sprouted in the storm-tossed cradle of war. is| breaking loose from the cage of s:as, deserts, mountains and lifeless wastes of ice in which the Earth Spirit had “ fmprisoned him. Only the interior of +- the globe, the profoundest ocean depths, + and the other planets remain deflant of the winged, impassioned youth which | has arisen in the world. ‘The flight across the South Pole by Comdr. Richard E. Byrd is a stirring episode in this epic of adventure and accomplishment upon which mankind has started. There are certain ele- ments in this episode, however, which merit special attention. The first is the nature of the country over which the flight was made. Thers " 1s something fantastic about Antarctic . exploration which grips the imagination more than does adventure in any other “ part of the earth. The mysterious ‘ polar continent is a dead world. Comdr. Byrd's adventure was literally a flight beyond life into the terrifying loneliness and silence of everlasting lifelessness. Antarctica is the Kingdom of Death on this planet. From a few feet beyond » the shoreline to the pole itself there is o living thing nor any possibility for & sentient creature to exist, except as he brought essential parts of the out- side world with him. Thus this flight differs from Comdr. Byrd's previous adventure over the! North Pole and from the various pas- sages of winged humans over the * stormy Atlantic and Pacific. In these other exploits the adventurers never ”_passed beyond the companionship of the spirit of Life. The oceans teem with * its manifestations and even the Arctic . ice caps in the neighborhood of the Pole Itself are not inhospitable to living crea- - tures. * But the passes of the black Antarctic mountains ars gateways to a region in- carnating the spirit of Death as the - rest of the globe incarnates the spirit of Life. The flight grips the imagina- .. tion because it is a symbol—one of those - Vague, universally recognized symbols such as arise occasionally out of na- . ture and human behavior—of man's conquest of Death. It is just short of an adventure beyong the grave and out- side the bounds of space and time themselves. The' other element in this adventure | that deserves attention is the character | _ of the central figure. This invader of the Kingdom of Death is the opposite of the dare-devil knight of legend. He is an imagination-cursed philosopher and . sclentist. His courage is of that high- est type which proceeds out of imag- ination and philosophy themselves rather than out of their absence. It is intellectual conquest of fear rather than lack of fear—and there is an in- finite chasm between the two types of bravery. Byrd entered the great loneliness and silence not as a colorful adventurer, * but as a missionary of science. Thus he also becomes & symbol—or perhaps an appropriate part in the greater symbol of the exploit itself. For those © acts which express the yearnings and fears of humanity which are too deep for words or coherent thought require men of spiritual substance as their central actors to give them immortality. _ There must be no dross in the symbol. e | | | | signal across a line of traffic, drivers who pull from the curb without giving heed to moving traffic, drivers who in the rush hour morning or evening will stop, likewise without signal, in the middle of the street, to discharge gayly ¢iia 1"~ ~=s<engers, and drivers who be- lieve that the rcd light means a chance for forty winks of sleep, but lose track and take sixty, while exasperated operators behind them seek to wake them from lethargy. Driving an automobile is, after all, a matter of consideration and courtesy, assuming that the driver has mastered the mechanics of operating his car. If he has not learned the fundamentals of car operation he should never be granted a permit. Of course, there is no way for the inspector who passes on his abllity to tell whether he is courte- ous or not, and that is probably the rea- son that so many inconsiderate drivers are granted licenses. ‘The police can act, however, after the Sc 50¢ | discourteous motorist shows his tend- encies. There are regulations which provide that an automobile must be driven as near the right-hand curb as practical, that make it mandatory to give a signal before turning and that take cognizance of and penalty from those who deflantly and unnecessarily obstruct traffic. A few arrests for this type of offense might solve to a large degree the problem of moving with ex- pedition Washington's heavy volume of travel. The Shelby-Kelly Trial. Refusal by the Department of Jus- tice to surrender its records in the Mc- Pherson investigation to the District Commissioners comes as an additional, though not unexpected complication. ‘The Commissioners were not seeking the records to satisfy their curiosity. Thejr hope was that out of them there might be taken evidence either to sup- port or to refute the grand jury charges made in its special report against In- spector Shelby and Lieut. Kelly. The records were and are valuable for their bearing on an issue that is vitally im- portant to this community. It is un- fortunate that, compiled as they were at public expense, their usefulness is now | ended in so far as the collateral phases of the McPherson case are concerned. ‘The Department of Justice takes the stand that much of the testimony re- ceived in its investigation was confiden- | tial in its nature and volunteered by | witnesses with that understanding. The witnesses were invited to tell not only what they knew, but what they had heard. Some of them had heard a great deal. None of them testified un- der oath. To divulge their testimony would be & breach of confidence. As the Department of Justice has nothing but that testimony and as its Bureau of Investigation is not permitted to arrive at or to transmit to any source theories or conclusions, it has decided that it can offer nothing to the Commissioners. ‘The Shelby-Kelly trial will proceed | without the Department of Justice re- | ports. It should proceed with all pos- sible speed. The Commissioners have evidently decided to constitute a special trial board, with themselves as the mem- bers. As such they can subpoena wit- nesses, but these cannot be forced to testify. Thus the proceedings, which originated with a legal body, clothed with proper power and authority, must be carried to their conclusion before an extra-legal body, whose jurisdiction is confined to the Police Department and | whose function is merely to enforce po- lice discipline. The charges against| the accused were drawn by a body that | no longer exists. As individuals, the members of that body cannot be made | to testify. The overt acts with which the accused are charged are alleged to have taken place within the grand jury room, and are therefore regarded as secret. The acts of omission with which the accused are charged are apparently matters of opinion. Faced with such difficulties, the trial board's task is not one to be envied. But it should no longer be delayed and the sooner it is over with the better, r———— It is now admitted, even though chil- dren must be disappointed, that there is no Santa Claus. It is better so. A good old saint hastening through the dark could hardly escape suspicion that might lead to Volstead complications. ————————— ‘The Chinese wish to arbitrate. The Soviets, once so insistent on open dis- cussion, maintain a relentless deter- mination to depend on the assertion of physical advantage. Whether stocks go up or down, busi- | ness cannot fall to establish itself on | & sound basis when an abundance of remunerative employment on public im- | provements is assured. America never | hoards its money, ————— Away back in its history, Chicago " used to be called the wickedest city in America. The gang talent has discouraged the authorities to an ex- tent that may require it to resume its old reputation. Cemeee Unfit Motorists. A survey conducted because of the ris- ing tide of motor accidents indicates that ten per cent of drivers in eleven States, comprising nearly one-third of the motor car population of the coun- try, are unfit ‘to operate automobiles. During the past nine months accident . figures have reached unprecedented heights, and the survey has disclosed ! that more than ninety-five per cent of . suspensions and revocations of permits are for driving while under the influence of liquor and reckless driving. In the eleven States covered by the survey there were 7,178,111 registrations, while - 77,704 permits were revoked. The ten per cent estimate for unfit drivers was arrived at after a study of these figures and interviews with motor vehicle com- “ missioners in the various States. It is, indeed, a depressing state of af- fairs when a figure as high as ten per cent can be arrived at solely through a study of the accident and revocation Tolls, for it is obvious that if an estimate is made of the number of stupid, dis- courteous and reckless operators, who * through no fault of their own escape mishap, the total of the unfit would grow into huge proportions. And while Washington's record in so far as acci- dents and revocations are concerned may be good it takes poor rank with other cities in the matter of its large number of potential accident breeders. B Priest and Scholar. The scientific world loses a colorful figure through the death of the Rev. Francis A. Tondorf, director of the seismolegical laboratory of Georgetown University. Father Tondorf served and sacrificed himself at the altar of science with priestly devotion and tireless labor. He passes from the scene of his studies a worthy member of that distinguished company of brilliant intellects who, under the banners of the Society of Jesus, have followed the hard roads of scientific research to the far frontiers of knowledge. The scientific history of the Jesuit order has been outstanding, its con- quests of the mysteries of nature being excelled only by its educational and missionery activities. These three have gone hand-in-hand from the beginning. Wherever the Jesuits have gone they have brought not only the Gospel but education and civilization. Members of this order have made their mast notable contributions to knowledge in the ficlds of physics, chemistry and astronomy, pressing continuously further and fur- ther into the dark places of these most fundamental of sciences. The labora- tories of their colleges have been out- posts in this eternal battle of the human mind against the mysteries of nature—and Father Tondorf at George- town was the commanding officer of one of thes: outposts. The circumstances of his death were such as fittingly to complete the picture of his life. He was found in his room at the college, where it was his prac- tice to labor far into the night over the difficult mathematical formulas of sels- mology, with his head resting on the desk upon which was an open volume of mathematics. His passing was hardly less dramatic than if hs had fallen on the altar with the opened Bible before him His scientific accomplishments and interests were parts of the pattern ‘The National Capital unfortunately geems to harbor an undue number of Joad hogs, drivers who turn without } of his priesthood. It was Father Tondorf's practice to arise at 4 o'cligk every morning to say 'mnl in one of the college chapels. Bu!l it so turned out that he was to take part no longer in this sacred symbolism of sacrifice, for in the night had been enacted the eternally recurrent drama of the martyrdom and glory of science with himself as the central figure. stantial contributions to science in his own person. He was hardly less out- stgnding as an educator and inter- preter and the list of his students who have followed the same path of mystical adventure and service in the light of the inspiration he gave them is im- pressive. A flaming toreh in the hands of a leader of men has gone out. o Boosts for Beards. Birce the first man, somewhere far back in prehistory, took a grouse's wishbone for tweezers and plucked out certain hairs that dotted his counte- uance the conflict between whiskers and no whiskers has gone steadily for- ward. Sometimes the beards have been far in the lead; sometimes the adher- ents of the clean shave have been on top, depending somewhat on climate and degree of hirsuteness. ‘Within the last half century the anti- whiskerites have been pretty well in the ascendant, as a glance at any fam- ily album will testify. Of late, however, the pro-whisker movement has received impetus from several influential quar- ters. Maurice de Waleffe, an eminent resident of France and part owner of one of the more influential newspapers, has urged whiskers for all Frenchmen | past the age of thirty, declaring: “Whiskers form part of our national type. Our young men, aping Ameri- icans, have abandoned whiskers. We do not want to become standardized Amer- icans. Let us be French.” Down in Italy the distinguished min- ister for aviation, Gen. Balbo, has been able largely to re-establish the old- fashioned chin beard as a facial adorn- ment for Italian males of all ages and stations. ‘These square-cut tufts are considered an indication ef patriotism and fascism. Whiskers of all sizes. shapes and cuts are still a feature of Slavic national life, especially in the rural districts. On this side of the At- lantic & severe counterstroke has been dealt by a recent resident of Los An- geles, who left a bequest to a young male relative on the condition that he ever attend dances or movies, join a secret society or grow a mustache. Not only does a national type vacillate in its preference, but so does an indi- vidual. A good-looking and well kept beard causes about as much trouble to its wearer as would a daily shave. Beards are never completely out of fashion, never completely in; and doubtless when Gabriel blows that long- anticipated blast, it will be responded to by all possible varieties of facial and most inexplicable types, the “burn- side” and the “dundreary.” If but to transpose the ever-abundant facial hairs to the uppermost portion of the male cranium—ah, there would be an achievement! som At least one thing has been made clear in the McPherson death case: It still affords interesting material for the amateur detective. Edgar Allan Poe could have written a wonderful story about it. # o It was long customary to concentrate attention on the -Arctic regions as the objective of exploration. has changed this and the Antarctic is yielding brilliant and rapid results. e readers should care for detective stories when the fascinations of crime research are disclosed in every edition of the newspaper. e ‘There were conferences on national affairs that caused the Thanksgiving dinner to share in importance with the White House breakfast. As a friend of Henry Ford, Mr. Edison should invent some method of preventing the radiator from freezing when the temperature goes down. ————————— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Expecting a Guest, There was a little meetin’ Down to the general store. There wasn't any greetin’ And the gloom grew more and more. T said, “Why are you gropin® In sorrow so profound?” They answered, “We are hopin® For a lobbyist to come 'round.” Ne Tipster. “I want to ask your advice about a political matter?” “I can't help you,” said Senator Sorghum. “The race track and the stock market are bad enough. But try- ing to give tips on politics is worse.” Jud Tunkins says what some folks call “holiday cheer” is liable to turn out to be a serious fight between a bootlegger and hi-jacker, Talk. A man who loves to talk I know. Although I do not scoff, I wish he'd try the radio; Then I could turn him off. Difficult Choice, “Did you go to a night club while you were in the metropolis?” “No,” declared Miss Cayenne, “the last time I made a visit like that, the beverage was suspicious and shots were heard just outside the door. I am not suicidally inclined and do not care to make choice between pistols and poison.” “A man may take some pride in pay- Chinatown, “since it proves that he has been deemed worthy to be trusted.” ‘Will Need a2 New One. And while of Christmas gifts I sing, I think it would be rather Good taste if Santa Claus would bring A bank account for .nuzer. “De man dat only knows one joke,” said Uncle Eben, “is better dan de one dat keeps comin® around wif a bunch o' new hard luck stories.” ————— Molehills ‘and Mountains. From the Detroit News. al he has others i8 mind. p Father Tondorf not only made sub- | TEXT “foliage,” even including those nrestj some superscientist could devise a way | Comdr. Byrd | It is difficult to understand why | ing a debt,” said Hi Ho, the sage of |y, ‘The office cynic approves the idea of naming & mountain for Senator Borah nd says in case of finding a molehill BY THE RIGHT RE! : St. Mark, 10.21. “Tnen Jesus beholding him loved him.” For the past few years we have been hearing much about “the new youth movement.” There can be little doubt that the reconstruction period follow- ing the war has been marked by a greater demonstration of the youth spirit than we have hitherto known. Along with it there has come a new form of self-expression. “We are re- minded of that striking phrase used by the Master in which He declared that new wine must be put into new wine- skins. The implication of this is that the new and fermenting wine if put in old receptacles works to their destruc- tion, and both wine and receptacle are lost. That there is a desire for adapta- tion to changed conditions, a new sense of independence in the youth of the present generation, is quite true. We sometimes wonder if we are not exag- gerating this whole matter. My own experience, especially in universities, leads me to the inevitable conclusion that the present-day youth has no de- sire to be regarded as the advocate of new and novel ways of living, nor has he any desire to be regarded as abinor- mal. Nothing in our judgment could be more fatal than to look upon the youth movement as a novel and abnormal ex- {)ression of the .youth spirit. I recall hat a group of young men in one of our great universities observed to me on a recent occasion that they did not like to have preachers come to them and They did not wish to be regarded as segregated from youth in general, nor did they wish to have a pabulum pre- sented to them that was for one ex- clusive and peculiar type. ‘We shall certainly make more satis- factory progress if we talk less about the peculiarities and idiosyncrasies of the youth movement. Of all the people in the world, young men and women do not wish to be regarded as peculiar. It is true that, with the new disclosures of sclience and the broadening culture of our generation, the church must pre- sent to its young ME:: something more stimulating and spiring than time-honored platitudes. Another thin, that is conspicuously evident is thal our young people are not appealed to by a so-called “comfortable gospel.” This phrase has been used too frequently to the hurt of the Christian cause. There is nothing in the ministry of Jesus to confirm it. He was the exponent of a cause that called for the finer elements of heroism. He preached a method of preach so-called ‘“university sermons.” | te ! nee “OUR YOUTH” V. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D., LL. D, Bishop of Washington life that demanded the exercise of its militant qualities. He did not seek to attract the anemic and colorless type. His call was to men who were capable of making courage one of the essential elements of their religious faith and practice. The early centuries of the Christian church were marked by a spirit of heroism that is rarely disclosed today. That the Christian religion as a philosophy of life has in it no L'Rpell to youth is untrue to the facts in the case. Some one said recently that “no one really gets interested in religion before 35.” We do not believe that either ob- servation or experience confirms this. Over against it, one of our college presi- dents in-an address to undergraduates stated that “culture must in these days recognize religion as an aspect of the human scene, be intelligent about it whether appropriating it or not.” An- other distinguished college president maintains that a comprehensive knowl= edge of the Christian theory of life is indispensable to one who claims the elements of culture and refinement. If our seminaries in their present con- stituencies glve any indication of the type of men who are seeking the min- istry, we venture to affirm from an ex- tended observation that they have in their class rooms today a finer, more virile and more manly t; than they have known for a generation. We feel more hopeful about our divinity stu- dents than we have for many years. ‘The Christian religion, rightly in- reted, does in a very peculiar sense make its appeal to youth. In a very real sense it makes a greater appeal to | Capital Sidelights ¥ BY WILL P. KENNEDY. In his pastoral letter to the Bay State flock in the Capital City, Assistant Attorney General George R. Farnum, president of the Massachusetts State Society, bidding them to the next re- ception on Tuesday, December 10, for election of officers, says that the very encouraging attendance thus far re- minds him of the story of a great Per- sian prince who, on making his first visit to the Occident, was taken to a | ¢, symphony concert at Paris. After com- pletion of the first part of the program, oonsisting of the usual selections of classical music, the prince was asked what piece he enjoyed the most. Iie asked the questioner to hum a bar or two from each and he would then answer. The host did this, but the rince was strangely unable to identify is favorite. At the end of the inter- mission, the musiclans came trooping back on the stage and immediately d-- voted themselves to the usual process of tuning up, whereupon the prince ex- camed with great excitement, “That's wiie piece I liked the best.” ® ko Ok ‘Washington is a great center of in- formation and dissemination of infor- mation. Members of other leaders in business as political life like to raise their voice in ‘Washington and send reverberating to the rest of the country praise of their home community, its crops and record in public service. It's a good practice, too. Thus the country learns many in- teresting facts about their neighbor communities that are never writ in the imagination of youth than to those | hook: of the older generation. That the great Master felt the appeal of youth is evi- dent in the Gospel narrative. His closest companion was the youthful disciple, St. John. It was written of a young man who came to Him that “Jesus looking upon him loved him.” ‘We may not forget that He, Himself, was a young man, even at the time of his crucifixion, He possessed all the ardor and enthusi- asm of a young man. He disclosed all those qualities that belong to youth. We suggest that more intelligence is ded today in presenting the high claims of our Christian religion to our youth than to any other type of listener. The hope of the church’s future resides in its youth, and the home must join with the church in making the Chris- tian religion so real, so practical. so vital and appealing that it shall irre- sistibly attract and hold the allegiance of the youth of our generation. Companies to BY WILLIAM MARD. ‘The suits brought by the Depnrtment‘ of Justice against two combinations | of interests in the motion picture in- dustry are thought here at this week end to mark the beginning of a strenu- ous effort by the Government to test out the present state of the law re- garding industrial mergers, which have been so plentiful lately. In the former administration a con- siderable number of mergers were in effect sanctioned beforehand by the Department of Justice. This was done in each case after prolonged and pains- i taking consideration and was evidenced | usually by a letter sent to the interests concerned, stating that the departmenc at the time and in the circumstances | was unable to see any legal impediment to the merger proposed. The meaning in practice was that the departmen. would not, and did not, in such cases, meet the merger with a suit in cour.. The situation was gratifying to large numbers of business men and was much applauded. | | i | | | | | * ok x x Under the present administration since Mr. Mitchell became Attorney General the Department of Justice has pursued a different course. It has not seemed to wish to undertake with any great optimism to anticipate the views | of judges and the decisions which the courts might render. At any rate, the numerous business men who have re- sorted to it for opinions regarding their prospective behavior have in all in- stances, it is believed, come away with- out having any of their doubts clarified and without having any of their future actions safeguarded. It is known that during this period a great deal of inquiry into merger situations has been in process in the department. It is reasonably suspected that this inquiry might some time ago it have produced various suits agai mergers had not the stock markee panic and the generally nervous state of business intervened. The bringing of the suits now against the William Fox interests and against the Warner | and First National interests in the | motion picture industry may be taken | as an indication that the department | has concluded that business is now re- stored enough and strong and healthy enough to endure a little investigation of the legality of some of its recent tendencies. * k%% It also may be taken as an indica- tion, more broadly, that the department is resolved to clear away some of the mists which have involved the merger problem and to get from the only ultimately authoritative source—namely, the courts—a final and conclusive light upon it. This policy. it is calculated by the department, will in the long run be the most serviceable that could be | adopted for business certainty and for business stability. Political interest attaches especially to the suits against the William Fox interests. This suit brings within its scope the Loew interests and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer interests. It de- livers a large load of trouble at tne doorstep of Louis Mayer of Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer, who, by a distressing coincidence, is one of the President's most ardent and energetic friends ana admirers and campaign contributors. Mr. Mayer just about wore himsell out in the last campaign on behalf of the presidential ambitions of his hero, Herbert Hoover. Now he is the firse notable victim through whom the idea is verified that Mr. Hoover's Attorney General, William D. Mitchell, is wholly juristic and wholly non-politic: character. * K %k x 1f Mr. Mitchell is willing, as he has shown he is, to bring suit against Mr. Mayer, it is easily to be deduced that he would have no qualms in bringing suit against Julius Barnes or Claudius Huston or Lawrence Richey. Members of the “medicine ball ‘cabinet” to which Mr. Mitchell belongs are reported here now to have given up all hope of { acquiring any “immunity bath” through | their athletics comradeship with him. | | People who said that Mr. Mitchell's; | legal spear would know no brother are calling themselves good judges of men and good prophets of events. Another political aspect of the motion picture suits by the Department of Jus- tice is that they in all probability fore- stall and prevent all threatened inves- tigation n(p the industry by the Senate. e groundwork for those sults was laid during the last administration by Col. William J. Donovan When oc- | cupied the position of Assistant to the Attorney General, in special charge of anti-trust matters. Senator Thonfas J. Walsh, Democrat of Montana demanded what it was doing to reduce the motion picture in- dustry to the reign of law. In response Col. Donovan procured a capacious auto and sent up to Senator Walsh a large bale of documents containing the data of the department’s motion picture in- quiries. These documents were, the other day, returned to the department by Senator Walsh without, so far as is known, any comment. It is suggested that possibly the motion picture in- dustry, now being prosecuted in the courts by Mr. Mitchell, has paid a small ! price for escaping being_investigated on Capitol Hill by Senator Walsh. DR The scope of Federal proceedings against motion picture interests and Anti-Trust Suits Against Movie Test Out the Law! practices is now very wide. The two new suits raise the total number of De- partment of Justice motion picture suits in the current period to eight. Four of these eight are of major im- portance. All four have been brought in the United States District Court of the southern district of New York. Two of these four have been decided. One was lost by the Government and the other was won. The one that was lost was to restrain motion picture pro- ducers and distributors from acting jointly in certain ways regarding credit conditions and the like among motion picture theater owners. The one that was won was to restrain motion picture producers and distributors from jointly trying to oblige motion picture theater owners to submit certain disputes to ar- bitration and to abide by the results. ‘The judge held in effect, in this latter case, that the results, for the most part, were probably fine and grand and broadly beneficial, but were secured by economic coercion and were accordingly “oppressive” and illegal. The two new suits, just brought, go even deeper into the structure of the industry. They allege, both in the field of motion picture ¥mducnon in studios: and in the field of motion picture ex- hibition in theaters, the existence of corporate mergers which “tend to create a monopoly.” Out of these suits, it is expected, there will be much legal illumination cast upon the pathway of mergers in general. (Copyright, 1929.) ————— All Signs Point to a Record Christmas Trade BY HARDEN COLFAX. St. Nicholas is grooming his faithful reindeer for a big job this month, for all road signs point to a heavy traffic this Christmas season. The conflict between the bulls and bears for domination of the stock pas- ture appears to have left Prancer and |Dancer and their teammates unper- turbed and sound in mind and limb for their annual dash to the ald of good cheer. Merchants report healthy early Yule- tide trade in all parts of the country. With the Thanksgiving holiday out of the way, the Christmas sales season will start in earnest Monday. For the benefit of those who supple- ment the efforts of Santa Claus with gifts to friends and relatives it should be stated that stocks of retailers this year are no larger than they were a year ago, and it will be recalled by late shoppers that a shortage of supply in various lines developed last year. The Feteral Reserve Board reports stocks of department stores identical in size October 31 in the two years, while of seven reporting lines of wholesale trade decreases in stocks were reported by four this year. * ok k% ‘That retailers anticipate rushing busi- ness is indicated by a study of the “want ad” pages of newspapers of 30 representative cities last week, which disclosed appeals for temporary sales- people in 22 of these cities. Retail trade in October was 3.2 per cent greater than in the same month a year ago, in the United States as a whole, with an increase in eight and a decrease in four of the dozen Federal Reserve districts. Measured by check payments, business is more active than a year ago. Reports to the Department of Com- merce show check payments for the week ended November 23 at the index figure 162.5, in contrast with 151.6 in the corresponding week of 1928. These figures are based on the average for the period 1923-25 as 100. EEE Advertising is likely to play a major role in Christmas trade this season, with even greater competition between |lines of goods for the customers’ dollar in the field of branded wares adver- tised by manufacturers and with mer- chants apparently determined to ex- pand their budgets to attract buyers to their individual offerings of merchan- dise and service. Shopping selections are simplified when the prospective pur- chaser may scan the descriptive text and the illustrations of an advertise- ment for ideas, and the power of print promises to be reflected this Christmas season in the jingle of cash registers even more than formerly. The Post Office Department expects a tremendous business in the mails this year, with the crest arriving December 16 and a sudden ebb December 26. Judging from orders for postage stamps placed by postmasters, these officials an- ticipate an increase of about 7 per cent in mail matter this year, contrasted with last. Approximately four billion rmm are being requisitioned this sea- n. (Copyright, 1929.) R A New Speed Idea. From the Helena Montana Record-Herald. In view of the American craze for speed in everything, however inconse- quential, ft strange no one has thought to try ?l( on roller skates. 1 | | s. One such herald is Frank E. Davis, an outstanding business man in Repre- sentative A. Platt Andrew's home town. He tells us that “’'way back in 1623 a small group of Pilgrims gathered in their small huts to name that place Gloucester. They were a hardy lot of tolks, living mostly on game and salt water fish. They built small boats and braved the treacherous waters off Gloucester ot get mackerel and other for their families. In those times womenfolk helped, for every hand meant more food for the cold Winter months to come. “I_remember as a boy” Mr. Davis told Representative Andrew and & group of friends, “when only 10 years old, lashing myself to the mainmast in a stiff blow, when my father’s schooner was half buried in the plunging sea. It was a hard life. But. still, Gloucester boys follow it year after year. It is in our blood. It's our way of living. Na- ture has located us close to the richest waters there are.” At the request of the Representative he explained why “Gloucester is the greatest mackerel port in the world,” thus: “You see, these mackerel spawn down South in the Gulf Stream waters. They slowly make their way northward, feeding as they go. By the time they are off the Gloucester coast they are in prime condition, full and round and plump and juicy.” Representative Andrew emphasizes that this isn't a “fish story,” but rather a romance of industry. - * x % % ‘The country was recently much in- terested in the story of the young lov- ers, the cadet who married the colonel's daughter at West Point and that termi- nited his career as a prospective Army officer. The sequel comes with the no- tification by the War Department of Representative A. Piatt Andrew of Massachusetts that due to the resigna- tion of this young cadet, Paul Capron, jr, a vacancy exists at the Military Academy. Representative Andrew has arranged with the United States Civil Service Commission to hold an open competitive examination for this ap- pointment in the tower of the Boston Customs House on January 11. The successful competitor is to take the regular entrance examination on the first Tuesday in March, and if found qualified will be admitted to the acade- my on July 1, 1930, * ok kX In commemoration of the thirty-third anniversary of the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Congress, early in the session about to open, will approve a bill introduced by Senator David I. Walsh of Massachusetts author- izing the coinage, at mints of the United States, of 500,000 silver 50-cent pieces of such design as the director of the mint with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury may select. The cost of coinage, dies, etc., will be paid by the Massachusetts Bay Tercentenary, In- corporated, to which corporation these memorial half-dollars will be turned over on payment of their face value. All laws now in force relating to the subsidiary silver coins of the United States, and the coining and striking of the same, regulating and guarding the process of coinage, providing for the purchase of material, for the transpor- tation, distribution and redemption of the coins, for the prevention of debase- ment or counterfeiting, for security of the coin and for other purposes are all made applicable to such memorial coins, Thus does Uncle Sam through careful legislative enactment safeguard the in- tegrity of his currency. EE R An exact comparison of household ex- penses today with those of 100 years ago has been made by the Bureau of Home Economics of the Federal Depart- ment of Agriculture, through accurate records of the “standards of living” of two families at a professional level, similar in make-up and general social position, in which both husbands were employed in Washington in similar types of Government work. The first record, kept in 1816-17, totaled $1,986.65; the other, for 1926-27, amounted to $4,853.83. ‘Without doubt the professional family of today is better supplied with com- forts, conveniences and luxuries than its counterpart of 100 years ago. To get these part of the income today is spent on items not easily obtained or actually unknown in 1816-17—including canned goods, prepared breakfast foods and oranges, which do not appear on the earlier record, and telephone, auto- mobile, commercial laundry, daily ice, children’s equipment and life insurance. ‘The modern family has better cloth- ing, better housing, better medical and dental care; it uses electric light, gas and coal instead of candles and fire- wood. It spends money for vacational activities, recreations, reading matter and other items not thought of 110 years ago. ‘Wages for services were, of course, less in 1916, but food was slightly higher than in 1026. Although both families spent almost identical amounts for food, the earlier one used this money for quite different articles. The modern food bill, with increased allotment for fruits, vegetables and milk, shows the great advance in scientific knowledge of diet and the improvement of trans- portation and marketing facilities dur- ing the last century. In spite of all we have been led to believe about ift of “the good old times,” no item of savings was set down for the 1816 family, while the 1926 family saved $225.60 for the pro- verbial “rainy day,” and spent $2,529.85 for conveniences unknown or unavail- able & century ago. So that a careful analysis shows that if the 1816 family had added these two items the sum total of household expenditures would have been practically the same for both families, ——— Safety Islands Hit. From the Haverhill Evening Gazette. ‘Two women were injured when they fell over safety islands in Cambridge. ‘We don't know exactly what these fi- lands are, but even without knowledge we feel justified in advising that they | be renamed. | | B Medal for the Bears? From the Ann Arbor Daily News. It seems that taxes, following the stock market trend, are coming down and wages are going up. Well, now, those bears aren't oucg bad {fellows after all. ! ‘There are strong indications that the American people are to become the principal preservers of European, and particularly British, shrines and relics sassoclated with historical persons, and especially with literary figures of the past. In the collections of rich Ameri- cans are to be found a large number of invaluable first editions of famous works and of - original manuscripts. The manuscript division of the Library of ngress has an important and steadily increasing collection of rare originals, many either lent or donated by wealthy individuals. But American interest is going be- yond the acquisition of books and papers. It has become concerned with people lived. The new Shakespeare memorial at Stratford-on-Avon, to re- place the old one destroyed by fire a few years ago, was constructed largely through donations of Americans, al- though contributions came from all over the world. It is said, however, that the American contributions are equal to all the others put together. This seems to be an inevitable devel- opment. From the beginning of his- tory younger and richer nations have taken up the responsibility of preserv- ing the valuable relics of older nations. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries England played a leading part in this respect, individuals of wealth and the government itself gathering up all manner of relics. The Elgin Mar- bles, brought from the Acropolis at Athens by the Earl of Elgin, consti- tuie a typical example. ‘The latest movement in which Amer- PRESERVING LITERARY SHRINES BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN. the places where important literary 2 their mother had died. Emily and Anne died while still quite young. Their lis at the parsonage had been, therefore, surrounded by sorrow and depression. Much interest is added to the parsobe age s a shrine, because the poetry a the novels writtsn by the girls refl the difficult and unrelieved life there. The novels, especially, are characterized by a sadness almost Russian in its stark= ness. The present American movement to | preserve the Haworth parsonage was begun by Claude Merker of Columbus, Ohlo, who first becam» interested in the idea while serving as American consul at Bradford, which is not far distant | from the Bronte home. Claude Bowers American writers and literary critics, ‘also have taken an interest in’the plan. Bronte Shrine Is Intact. There is a Bronte Society which has been in existence for some years. It is composed chiefly of Americans and Englishmen. This organization already has collected a great many relics of the Bronte sisters, which are preserved at the parsonage. It now is proposed that the place be purchased, so that there can be no doubt about its continued preservation. The sum of $25,000 is necessary to effect the purchase, and an Englishman of the Bronte country, | 8ir James Roberts, has agreed to sub- scribe $5,000 of this sum provided other | members of the soclety and the general Fub"n make up the balance. There is | little doubt,that this will be done. icans are taking the leadership is the preservation and establishment as a literary museum of the parsonage at Haworth, in England. which was th> home of the Bronte sisters, the three daughters of an Irish clergyman who distinguished them- selves by their writings. The Ha- | worth parsonage lends itself to the uses Iot a museum and shrine because of the ll,rlgedy in the lives of the sisters and the difficulties and handicaps under which they carried on their work at Ithat place. The sist=:s—Charlotte, |Emily and Anne—lived a closely se questered life at Haworth and with in. defatigable toil turned out their manu- seripts. The parsonage of Haworth is situated in a quiet part of Yorkshire. Although the advance of industrial development in the country has brought some changes such as railroads and factories, on the whole the countryside is much as it was during the period of the sisters’ literary labors some 75 years ago. The Bronte Household. ‘The Rev. Patrick Bronte, father of the writers, had three other children and S0 numerous & family meant straitened living conditions, as the remuneration of an English clergyman a century ago as not munificent. This meant a mi) mum of books and other educational cilities for the girls. They worked different times as governesses in neigl boring families, but chiefly their time | seems to have been spent in the lonely parsonage. Their lack of funds was em- phasized because their only brother, Branwell Bronte, career and all available cash was di- verted to him in an effort to further this ambition. Although he was entered for the study of painting at the Royal Academy, he quickly squandered his funds and came home. Very early he took to drink and when about 30 years of age died chiefly as the result of his excesses, ‘While the sisters were yet children pired to an artistic | One reason why the Bronte shrine is intact is that it is located in a lonely place, quite off the beaten track of | tourists. Recently, however, the exten- ‘smn of bus lines through sedtions not penetrated by railways has induced a | 8ood many Americans to visit Haworth, | _ Nearby is still standing the inn, the Black Bull, where Branwell Bronte drank himself to death. Although the hostelry has passed out of the hands of the proprietor who served Bronte, the present operator has shown enough interest in the Bronte tradition to keep the youth’s memory alive by the pres- ervation of relics relating to him. The chair which he always occupied during his long hours at the Black Bull still sits In the same place where he liked to have it, and on a small shelf beside it are a drinking glass and a pipe which, it is understood, were habitually used by him. Preservation of these relics of a per- sonal nature, both at the inn and at the parsonage, give an atmosphere of great realism to these places and en- able admirers of the talented family to understand clearly how they lived. |1t is interesting to recall that Amy | Lowell during her lifetime devoted | much effort to preservation of the | house in London occupied by John Keats, while A, Edward Newton is en- gaged in raising funds to erect a me- morial to Thomas Hardy on Egdon Heath. Many of the homes of impore tant British literary figures remain in the hands of descendants, who do not desire to part with them, but as they do become available there is good rea- son to believe that Americans will not be slow to take them over. However, when George Bernard Shaw recentl moved from his apartment in the f: mous Adelphi Terrace, which he ha long occupied and where he wrote some of his most famous works, he himseif expressed surprise that there was no rush on the part of Americans to rent the place. It stood vacant for quite a while. But S8haw is not dead yet. | | Fifty Years Ago In The Star ‘The Washington City Post Office was an itinerant tenant for many years, oc- 2 s, cupying numerous Another City F,fm‘:;n. all mm = less Approj te Post Office. size mdpunzmmodl- tions. Half a century ago public ex- pectation was aroused by the engage- ment of new quarters for the mail head- quarters of the Capital, as thus stated 1w The Star of November 24, 1879: “It is expected that within a few days, possibly by Saturday night, the City Post Office will be located at the Seaton House, fronting Lomisiana ave- nue and C street between Sixth and Seventh. The work of arranging the building for the purposes of the office has been in progress for about six weeks, under the direction of Col. J. O. P. Burnside, superintendent of the Post Office Department, and those who are the best judges speak of the arrange- ments as being excellent. The City Post Office will occupy the basement and the first and second stories, but it is likely that some other bureau of the Government will be moved to the up- per stories and thereby save the pay- ment of rent elsewhere, The delivery portion of the office will be on the Louisiana avenue side, occupying the entire front. Arches have been cut and the lobby, 10 feet wide, extended from one end to the other, 87 feet. The mails will be received on C street, the wagons backing up to a platform 5 feet wide and 50 feet th' e remainder of the first story will be used for as- sorting and making up the mails, and it is arranged for the greatest conven- lence to the public and the employes. From the lobby there are two flights on the second floor. The postal rail- making the offices on this floor very convenient to the public. The post- master, the assistant postmaster, the money-order and registered letters and searchers’ departments will be located on the second floor. The postal rail- way employes will also have rooms on this floor. The basement will be de- voted to the heating apparatus and the repair shops and to bins for the stor- age of pouches, bags, etc. The entire cost of alterations and repairs will be about $5,000, which the owners of the building bear, The lease is for five years at $5,000." * * x Recently, during the stock market collapse, some extraordinarily large buy- Vanderbilt's Big e 1 wet st Sale of Stock. as a means of sta- bilizing the “list” and checking the downward movement of prices. One order in particular was of sensational moment, being for the purchase of 1,000,000 shares of United States Steel at 50, a price which was almost, but not quite, reached, the order acting as a stop or dam against the ebbing tide of quotations. Half a cen- tury ago market transactions were in smaller figures. In The Star of Novem- ber 28, 1879, is the following: “The sale by W. H. Vanderbilt of 250,000 shares of New York Central $30,000,000, was one of the transactions, perhaps the largest, ever consummated in this country. Mr. Cy- rus W. Field, who has had a great deal of experience in that line, says it was the largest transaction ‘I ever heard of by any corporation.” Half the amount, at least, is to be paid in United States 4 r cent bonds at par, and some know- ing ones among railroad ites and stock brokers are of the opinion that Mr. Vanderbilt has made a big stroke. Mr, Vanderbilt retains the management of the line of railroad, and some of the Wall Btreeth.n"penwr- have intimated a s tock he has sold for much less than the price he gets. In comparison with this transaction, Jay dore Garrison for the Missouri Pacific Ral becomes a picayune affair. Mr, Vanderbilt’s ostensible reason for relin- quishing this enormous block of stock is that he did it in deference to the popular feeling, which is averse to his absolute control of the New York Cen- tral, but the general impression in New York City is that other motives influ~ enced the sale—that for one thing he wanted the money badly to pay off heavy indebtedness and that, further, it Was necel for him to protect the Railroad stock, involving a payment of | largest | Could’s check of $3,800,000 to Commo- | the !Scenes on the Rail Line of Asia’s War BY DREW PEARSON. ‘With Russia’s incipient violation of {the Kellogg peace pact held in check by Chinese overtures concerning the seizure of the Chinese Eastern Railway, this line, unique among the carriers of the world, comes into prominence again. ‘The Russian attack was long con- templated, according to reports here, the ‘moment the rich soil of the terrain was frozen hard to make an advance pos- sible. ‘This railway, the short cut from Si- beria to the sea, passes through a coun- try similar to the American prairies of the Northwest and as wild and for- bidding as they were in the 40s. The road has a further American connec- tion, since most of its stock is Ameri- can made. The tremendous locomotives required to pull its wide-gauge cars could be built nowhere else. * ok kX Its cars come close to resembling small barns mounted on wheels. They are so high that in third-class carriages | the berths are stacked in three instead of two tiers, as in American Pullmai ‘The cars are so wide that an extra tier of berths also can be placed paral- lel to the aisle, in addition to the com- partments which run alongside the other side of the car. ‘These compartments are packed with all sorts of humanity, typical of the as- sorted races which dwell upon the wild Manchurian plain. This writer once shared one of these compartments with former ofi~~r in the Czarist army, & Russ'~n .l girl, & Japanese mer- chani, a’ Chinese of unknown occupa- tion and a Cossack cattleman. All of them slept apparently quite comfortably on the hard wooden benches which lined the walls of the compartment three tlers high. * kX Even in times of peace the Chinese Eastern Railway carries just behind the engine an armored car loaded with troops. Each bridge is carefully guard- ed, and when the train stops at sta- tions, nearly always for periods of 20 to 30 minutes, a Chinese corporal guard paces energetically up and down the platform and then draws to salute the engineer as the train pulls out. ‘The towns and villages through which the Chinese Eastern Railway west of Harbin are nothing more than Mongolian trading posts, consisting of mud huts and log cabins, surrounded by stockades of spiked sticks. The pop- ulations are chiefly hard-riding Cos- sack cattlemen, who use such short stirrups that they must always ride on gene‘llde of the saddle with one knee nt. * X x % Mixed with them are Mongols, with their long skirts of red and yellow, with weirdly pointed™ toes, who have mi- grated from Eastern Mongolia to North Manchuria. In recent years Chinese from Shantung and other parts of China trekked to Manchuria in numbers, where their methods of in- tensive cultivation are inning to form a permanent peasantry instead of the roving nomads from Mongolia and Siberia. In addition to these there are a number of Japanese merchants and a scattering of Russian exiles. It is a land where no m: alone at night unless armed and where no one opens his door without first in- quiring who seeks admission, Despite his wildness, it is consid- ered one of the granaries of the future. Its soil is one of the most fertile in the world and compares to the “gumbo” soll of Texas. goes out * ok ok % Manchuria has long been called the “cross-roads” of the Orlent, where European Russia meets both Oriental China and weste: cal Russo-Japanese war in 1904, as & re- sult of wi hich Russia_handed over to Japan all of South Manchui Vi iria, with able Russian-built South Man- to Eastern Railway, giving her Trans- siberjan Railroad a short cut and sav- ing 1.000 miles to Viadisvostok and the Pacific. (Copyright, 192 interests of the road in its Western con- nections by an alliance with Jay Gould and his associates, who have recentl; got. eo;'nuvl of & network of 'uufl{ A