Evening Star Newspaper, December 14, 1929, Page 6

STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C., SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1929. [ THE EVENING _——___—_———__—_—_—_—_——_______m—_——_-———————————_——_———__ THE EVENING STAR Ecould give a clear description of the | had no desire to discriminaté against With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY...December 14, 1920 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .Editor per Company nsylvania Ave ce; 10 Baat d2nd ‘ot A Rerent &L, London: oRtang The Evening Star N Bus} et York Se Poorean O Rate by Carrier Within the City. R: venine Star.. ~gigs5¢ vor month ening and i (hen ¢ Sun . .60c per month ‘The Evenin (when 5 Sunday Sta liection madi Qiders maz be ch gders ¢ sent in by mail or telephone Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland lnld Vl:l‘:nh. P All Other States and Canada. and Sunday..1yr., $12.00: 1 mo. 1yr. 88.00° 1 m only X ‘1yr $5000: 1ol n:g:" only L5 Member of the Associated Press. The Associate v T, A d Press is exclusively entitled shed heremn: . AN sichis Al Tights Special dispatches herein —_— Ambassadorial Status for Poland. | It is a fitting climax to the recent commemoration in this country of the Pulaski sesquicentennial that the United States has just raised our diplomatic relations with Poland to ambassadorial status, Henceforward the Eastern European republic and this country will be represented at their respective capitals by Ambassadors instead of Ministers. Governments can extend to one an- | other no higher compliment than to clothe their envoys with the rank which, when thrones and dynasties meant more than they do today, was| the cherished prerogative exclusively of | crowned heads. Ambassadors still have | certain privileged rights at the capitals to which they are accredited. Among them, in our own case, is the right of direct access to the President of \hli United States, if desired, rather than & mere Minister's duty to approach the American Government through State Department channels. In elevating Polish-American relations | to the ambassadorial level, President | Hoover makes known that his action is | a tribute to the Polish element which | so0 long and so fruitfully has leavened American citizenship. Since the days when Gens. Pulaski and Kosciuszko joined their fortunes with those other European patriots—Lafayette, Rocham- beau and Steuben—who pledged their lives, reputations and fortunes to the young American Revolutionary cause, Poles have figured with distinction in the development of the United States. With the independence aspirations of their native land, Americans have ever been warm sympathizers. In the re-| construction days following the World | War, the helping hand of the United | States — politically, ~financially and | philanthropically—was cordially ex- tended. Free Poland's first premier, M. Paderewski, served as its official representative at Washington in 1917 and 1918, and laid well and deep the foundations of practical interest in his country, which have survived to this day and now eventuate in the establish- ment of an American embassy at War- saw. Poland was one of the first of our| ‘World War associates to fund her debt | to the United States Treasury. It is/ the fifth largest of the thirteen sepa- rate obligations due us, though, of course, greatly exceeded by the debts of Great Britain, France, Italy and Belgium. Since the date of the fund- ing settlement, five years ago, the Poles | have lived up to their pledges in & fashion which indicates the definite: stabilization of their finances, though | political conditions in the republic are more or less chronically disturbed amid the dictatorship which Marshal Pil-| sudski holds with apparent lnvmctbu{ty,( — e e There are many kinds of heroism. One of them is required by a man who undertakes to be warden of a prison in which discipline is not respected. et Modern Crime Technique. ‘While, of course, the chief line of inquiry by the President’s crime com- mission is to seek the cause of the pres- ent high rate of lawbreaking in this country, and, if possible, some measure of correction or ture, it would be in- teresting and possibly instructive for a branch of the investigation to turn to the question of crime technique. This is a branch of the subject that has becn somewhat overlooked by those who have been studying the matter, and it deserves research. Crime technique has been remarkably developed in recent years. The former | crude methods of force and sly craft have been displaced by newer modes, the motor car, the telephone and even the radio serving the lawbreakers ef- fectively and, from a certain point of view, artistically. It is a far cry from the old-fashioned burglarious entry to the modern housebreaking. The bank robber uses subtler and more definitely effective means than his predecessor, | who delved into the foundations and | pried his way through thick walls and | sted the steel of strong boxes to reach his loot. The latest case of artistic crim- inal enterprise occurred Saturday eve- ning in New York, where a banquet table of fifty men was suddenly held up by a band of seven, who “frisked” | the diners, assembled to do honor to a city judge. The “operatives” entered the dining room as the speechmaking was proceeding. The leader, clad in evening attire, sauntered to a com- manding position and, masking the Jower part of his face with a handker- chief, drew two guns and quietly ordered those present to place their hands on the table and to submit to search for valuables. At first the guests thought that the interruption was a bit of en- tertainment, staged for their benefit and amusement. But they were soon disabused of this idea. The uninvited ones gathered some $1,200 in cash and nearly $4,000 in gems and watches— estimates of the worth of such com- modities always vary widely—and also several pistols, taken from those pres- ent who were licensed by the law to carry arms, including a detective mem- ber of the homicide squad. The get- away was effected swiftly and safely. ihe local news of publication of e also reserved. | thieves, though all but the leader worked with uncovered faces. Now, there is a case worthy of study. It indicates thoughtful planning, care- ful management and perfect discipline. The leader evidently “reads the papers and keeps abreast of the news, Per- haps this was & trial flight, with bigger and richer banquets in view for later operations. If so, there was an error of judgment, for doubtless hereafter Gotham banquet-goers will leave their valuables at home—until they forget this present lesson and splurge again with cash and jewels. - o _Secrecy in Budget Practice. During the hearings last year on the 1930 appropriation bill Commissioner Taliaferro was asked to explain how the Cominissioners would recommend the expenditure of certain funds not cov- ered in the estimates. He replied: Mr. Chairman, as you know, the mat- ter is presented here after coming from the Director of the Bureau of the Bud- get, and this represents the amount Wwhich we are here to speak for, and, as the committee knows, we are under an executive order not to discuss- He was here interrupted by Mr. Sim- mons, who assured him, in so many words, that he might disregard the exccutive order for the time being and | be frank with the committec, Later on Mr, Taliaferro hesitated sgain: ‘The Commissioners, Mr. Chairman, believe that additional moneys might well be spent for needs of the District of Columbia, but, as I stated a mo- ment before, we are here under the biudzel system, under certain restric- tions. Mr. Simmons renewed his assurances that it was safe to talk and the Com- | missioners later furnished the commit- | tee with a list of projects that were in need of financing. A few days ago it developed that expenditure of an original appropria- tion of $300,000 for starting work on the proposed $2,500,000 Roosevelt High School was held up because of the pro- vision that only three per cent of the appropriation can be used in prepar- ing plans Three per cent of the ap- propriation in this case was not enough to prepare the plans. The Commission- ers previously had recommended $1,000,- 000 for the initial appropriation, but the Budget Bureau cut it to the $300,- 000 appropriated. Because of the in- hibition against discussing actions’ of | the Budget Bureau, none of the Dis- trict officials appearing before the congressional committees mentioned the fact that the Budget Bureau's re- duction would interfere with drawing the plans, though they must have known it. The sanctity of Budget Bureau es- timates originates not from an ex- ecutive order, but from the budget act itself, which declares, in section 206, “No estimate or request for an appropriation and no request for an increase in an item of any such es- timate or request, or no recommendation | as to how the revenue needs of the Government should be met, shall be submitted to Congress or to any com- mittee thereof by any officer or em. ploye of any department or establish- ment unless at the request of either house of Congress.” Such a provision is of course funda- mental. Without it the Bureau of the Budget might as well pass out of ex- istence. But if it is interpreted to mean that an official called before one of the | appropriation subcommittees must con- fine his statements to the estimates from the Budget Bureau, without at- tempting to explain or to give his ver- sion of changes made by the bureau, then the hearings on the appropriation | bills themselves might as well be abolish- ed. It is doubtful if the committees of Congress would object, nor could the Bureau of the Budget rightly object to a responsible statement from an official, giving it as his opinion that the Budget Bureau had exercised questionable judg- ment. Certainly it is not violating the budget law, as quoted above, to make such statements. They are neither re- quests for appropriations nor are they recommendations. If the Commissioners asked for a new automobile to cost $1,000 and the Bu- reau of the Budget cut the estimate to $250, it is inconceivable to believe that the Commissioners would be guilty either of law violation or a breach of ethics if one of them remarked that it was impossible to buy an automobile for $250. ‘The danger is not that the budget act will be frustrated by frankness on the part of officials appearing before committees, but that theése officials may use the prohibitions outlined in section 206 as a means of shedding their own responsibility and “passing the buck" to the Budget Bureau. Officials of the Budget Bureau may make mis- takes, for they are human. Certainly there is no law against pointing them out. ——t——— More pay is required for school teach- ers to prevent them from being tempted away from the high responsibility of educating youth by the wage scales in more prosaic pursuite. s e Benefits of the Ranger Bequest. An unusual combination of great vision, artistic appreciation and plain, hard common-sense appears to have been accomplished by the late Henry Ward Ranger of New York, who left his entire fortune for the benecfit of American a1t and did it according to a plan, results of which are now being demonstrated through an exhibition of paintings now in progress at the Na- tional Gallery of Art here in Washing- ton. ‘The story of Mr. Ranger's bequest and of its fulfillment, already partially accomplished, is an interesting one and worthy of emulation if not imitation by other patrons of art. In outline it is as follows: Evidently having in mind the ten-year purgatory of the Luxembourg and the eventual possible heaven of the Louvre as regards French art, Mr, Ranger left all his considerable resources to be administered by the Council of the National Academy cf Design, New York, of which he was himself & member, & group as highly competent and as near likely to remain self-perpetuating 8s any other that oc- curs to mind. He left his estate with the proviso that all moneys accruing to it as Income should be used by the Council in purchasing paintings by American. artists and, furthermore, that at least two-thirds of the sum be de- voted to the purchase of works by art- Not a shot was fired, not a scratch of injury was inflicted, and after the thing WAs over not one of the looted guests 5 ists of the age of forty-five years or over. . Here it may be explained that he wise younger painters, but was convinced that in most cases a man of that mature age has passed his youthful vagarfes—in common parlance, “has arrived.” The one-third remaining can be devoted to the works of any younger men of sufficient genius, if thought de- sirable. Next comes the second test. 1 All pictures selected and purchased are to be given outright by the Council to art or other institutions maintaining i public galleries. But the National Gal- lery of Art—and here appears the testator's discriminating broad Amer- icanism—shall have the option and the right, without cost, to take and to own any picture so displayed for its own |pmnunenz collection, provided such | option be exercised at some time withirt 1a five-year period which shall begin ten | years after the artist's death. Ten yea by the way, is the period of time a pic- ’ ture that is a possibility for the Louvre must first linger in the Luxembourg. In other words, the. painting first must be chosen and bought by highly competent experts. Then it must re- { main on view in some designated gal- lery for at least one decade, by which time it is likely that the work will be correctly judged, and on merit alone. Then at any time during the five years following the artist's death the National Gallery can take it over or, failing this, the work remains the property of the institution to which it was first pre- sented. The plan is to run through all time; it is somewhat reminiscent of a tournament in which the National Gallery deals only with the entrants in the very finals. Gradually the collec- tion of the gallery here will, by this means, become more representative of all that is greatest and best in Amer- jcan painting. Mr. Ranger was not aiming specifically to benefit American artists, but American art, although in- cidentally he accomplished the former, ‘The National Gallery has not yet chosen any of the pictures displayed, but has assembled a representation of the best works thus far bought and distributed by the Council of the Academy, and thus gives the Capital and Nation a foretaste of what it one day will proudly display as its very own. e —————— Plans to make the Nation's Capital a model city are apparently started with the idea of keeping the police much investigated regardless of failures to find out a great deal. e A burglar who obtains only ten or eleven dollars will probably try again at the earliest opportunity, heedless of the object lesson pointing to the fact that crime does not pay. . Business is not seriously affected by stock market uncertainties. Where there are losers there must be winners and money remains in circulation as usual. ——————— Efforts to make penitentiaries home- lik= #nd attractive have not yet suc- ceeded far enough to prevent mob for- matidn for the purpose of breaking out, .- A certain advantage is enjoyed by Mr. Grundy, who has lived here so much that he wiil not have to lose time learning his way about town. ——— e — Science has isolated the influenza germ with the definite hope of even- tually ostracizing it and all its kin. ——— ‘The small boy is not sure whether he wants a sled for Christmas or new | skid chains. ———t— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Nobody Safe. Safe from temptation and the cares Which complicate this world's affairs, He finds, at last, secure retreat In a seclusion safe and sweet. Afar from all life’s cruel stress He dwells in placid loneliness. I think of him, and I turn pale— “Another friend has gone to jail.” I do not know just what he did. Details must frequently lie hid, When culpabilities so strange On every hand may freely range. His friends as they hear him named Rise to protest that he was framed— I only said, while critics rail, “Another friend has gone to jail!” The Big Game. “Do you believe in allowing money to get into politics?” “How are you going to prevent it?” asked Senator Sorghum. “Money has to do something with itself and politics, after all, is an even bigger game than the stock market.” Jud Tunkins says & woman no longer wants a man to stay home nights. She prefers the cabarets. Cash and Carry. To be & juggler I shall try And carry to the door A stack of bundles eight feet high, Through the department store. Facts Not Available. “Did she find out all about her hus- band before she married him?” “Not all,” answered Miss Cayenne. “When he proposed to her it happened that the grand jury was not in session.” “A cheat,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “may deceive others, but he must forfeit the respect of the one per- son whose esteem means most—him- self.” Needing the Rest. A statesman in seclusion lurked. He sits dejected, Because so very hard he workea To get elected. “Some day,” said Uncle Eben, “every man kin have an airship, but all I axes foh is a new pair o' shoes.” vt Highway Foot Ball. €rom the Lowell Evening Leader, Valuable as it may be in foot ball, the forward pass should be used with discretion by the motorist on a crowded highway. e A Good Suggestion. From the San Francisco Chronicle. It's all right to pick up a stranger on the highway if, like the Good Samari- tan, you pick one too far gone to knock you'in the head. ——o— And a Waste of Arrow: From the Pittsbureh Post-Gazette. It is legal to hunt deer in Pennsyl- vania with bow and arrow. It is like- highly difficuit. THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. “The artist listened in silence, feign- { ing agreement. He waited for Soderini's | speech to end, with a despondent sub- missiveness, even as & traveler on a highway who, being overtaken by a whirlwind of dust, waits with head | bowed and eyes shut. “In these ordinary thoughts of ordi- nary men Leonardo felt a blind, deaf, implacable force, resembling the forces of Nature, with which one cannot con- | tend; and. although at first sight such thoughts appeared to him merely flat, | when he came to ponder upon them | more deeply he experienced the same fearful void, into a vertiginous abys This_excerpt from Dmitri Merejkow | ski's “Romance of Leonardo Da Vinci | brings up pleasantly an most people have had at some time or other, but perhaps never seen so well expressed before. “The ordinary men"—who h and suffered immensely, himself might be on! { vance to see that t ordinary? Modern factors of such as motion pictu not fallen foul of them although he y far enough in ad- heir thou tartling ingenuity, s, have accented many millions exactly the sainc thoughts about the same things. There are other forces today operat- ing in (he same way, with the result that at no time in world's history have men and women, and even the children, | been so inclined to think on a level. On the other hand, we have no sym- Ipathy with would-be “intellectuals” who profess to find decency, goodness and morality “bromidic,” as they *say. There is a vast difference between such conversation, sententious though it may |be, and that flat staleness about noth- }ing of which Merejkowski speaks. * & % “The voice of the ple is the voice of God.” This saying is one of the oldest attemp's to justify the wisdom of the mob. The latest is the jocular “Fifty million Frenchmen can't be wrong.” The truth seems to be that the “voice of the people” sometimes is anything but the voice of God, and that fifly million Frenchmen, or Americans, or English, can be wrong upon occasion. ‘There are only supposed to be 5,000 men in the world who really contribute anything to thinking as an art, but th average reader may well hesitate before accepting such figures. there are 5,000 such persons, or 10,000, or 100,000. tions attempt to do i3 to distinguish between first-class thought and medi- ocre thought. Perhaps these statements do as well as any. ‘They take us back, however, to the scene in “The Ronfance of Leonardo Da | Vincl,” in which the above quoted words appear. The Russian writer has suc- better psychological bicgraphy “blographies” now clamoring for the I eyes of the American reading public. | blography, for it is both—is the com- plete life of the man, unrelieved by any up the “high lights” of a subject’s ca- reer. In this book Leonardo the Flor- cntine lives and works and fades out of the picture. Death comes to him, as it must to all men, but here unre- lieved. The guile of artistry is not used to give a falseness to the inevitable end, s0 ‘lhll the achievement is startlingly real. In the scene under discussion the good man Soderini, head of the council, is lecturing the great artist on art. He idea_which | | thoughts of ordinary ghts were | Nobody has any way of proving that | What all these generaiiza- | ceeded in this novel in writing a much | than ' many of the hastily thrown together | What distinguishes this book—novel, | fictional craft which ordinarily plays| o @ ‘wu. inde-d, rushing in where angels| fear to tread. Although he knew noth- | ing about painting, he did not hesitate | for a second to tell one of the greatest | artists of the age just how to do it. Now, we all know people like that. | They come into the merchant's store| and tell nim how to run the business: |they invade the editor’s sanctum and tell him how to run the paper; they go to the White House and would tell the President how to run the United States if they éould get in. * koK % “The artist listened in silence.” Leonardo the Florentine was foo wise | sensation as if he were glancing into a | & man, reaching out for scientific truth, | | yet holding fast to the old good, to attempt to argue with such a man. He kept still. ‘What was the use? He knew better than to add fuel to the flame. Some time or other the speaker would have |to run down. His ignorant zeal would wear itself out. What dificrence did it make if he went away thinking he had outtalked | the artist? He had! | When it came to talking, Soderini | was “there,” to use an expressive mod- | ernism. Leonardo bowed his head be- the duliness of mankind by giving so| fore the storm as a traveler who is|hild, once serving caught on a dusty road. | Do you remember as a child when a sudden little Summer whirlwind of the | play variety swept across the home town road? How the dust was blown | around in miniature whirlpool fashion | while you, a child with bare feet, had enough common sense o close your eyes llnd,\\'al'. until the disturbance was | over? i So Leonardo Da Vinei did with the | droolings of Soderinl. How well the | author puts the thoughts of the -artist as he kept silent: | “In these ordinary thoughts of ordi- | narv, men Leonardo felt a blind, deaf, mpiacable force with which one can- g’ contend.” | ad, deaf, implacable, but some- thung with which one cannot contend, | because reason is pcwerless. The igno- | rance of the other was (and always is) 50 immense that one knows instinc- tively that there is no use giving one's viewpoint. All that would be gained would be to give the other a new toe- hold for ridicule. A man who has become wise in some one small department of human knowl- edge sees that what may be known is 50 much that one cannot “know it al | 2bout_anything, not even about one’s | own specialty. ‘Therefore, when he is confronted with this blind, deaf, implacable force he knows instinctively that there is no i1se contending with it. If it were pos- ible to run away, he would run; but, failing locomotion, he becomes as quiet as_pessible, He even agrees! With shame, yet with laughter at his heart, he agrees with what he knows is a lie in order to still the sound of that voice, to get rid of the man, to end the thing as peacefully as possible. He knows that the thoughts of the other are not only flat and unprofitable but that they hold in their depths much misery, shame and cruelty, since such “knowledge” ever longs to back itself up ;\“t:h the sword, the bullet, the whip, the st. He sees in the whirling depth all the frightful things which have come from such men through all the centuries, for it is in this abyss that ignorance breathes and moves and has its being. He shrinks back and is afraid, for fear rules here; and no man can say forth in the twinkling of an eye and without intention even. His head goes round as he realizes that he is looking into a fearful void. Rejection of William 8. Vare as Sen- ator from Pennsylvania by the Upper Branch of Congress is a subject of hot debate throughout the country. Those who uphold the action of the Senate feel that huge campaign expenditures are sufficient evidence of corruption to justify the step. Critics of this action hold that the precedent established is contrary to the constitutional rights of the States. prefers lynch law to the Constitution,” charges the Hartford Courant (inde- pendent Republican), with the explana- tion that “if Mr. Vare was guilty of fraud, he could have been expelled aft- er he was duly sworn”; that “if he was an undesirzble member, he could like- wise have been compelled to withdraw after taking the oath of office.” The Courant concludes that “the practice of the Senate, now hardening into a precedent, gravely imperils the rights of the States and the voters in them.” * ok Kk The New York Times (independent) calls the Senale action “a high-handed procedure, fraught with many disturb- ing possibilities hereafter,” and the New York Herald Tribune (Republican) warns, “If such reasoning is accepted as sound, the Senate may find dis- qualifications anywhere it wishes to find them.” The Rock Island Argus (inde- pendent) declares, “Holding no brief for Mr. Vare in particular, one may register a protest against the possession by a majority of the Senate of the power to thwart the voice of the people of 1 sovereign State expressed at the poll “The more the case is discussed, thinks the Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch (in- dependent Democratic), “the more in- defensible does the action of the Sen- ate seem, and the more puzzled is this paper in’ its effort to understand how any Senator from the Democratic South—which habitually is in the mi- nority in the Senate-—could bring him- self to vote to clothe the Senate with an arbitrary power which the majority at any time may use as the most arro- gant and partisan of ils leaders may please to use it‘,(" * * Upholding the unseating of Vare, the Springfield Republican (independent) contends: “The actual amount of money expended, however ridiculous, was a secondary consideration to the methods used in obtaining and counting the votes for Vare, and denying justice at the polls to Vare's opponents—alike in the primary and in the election. The Sen- ate could hardly have retained its self- respect if it had not rebuked those responsible for the practices by refusing admission to the beneficiary of those practices.” The South Bend Tribune (independent Republican) holds that “the real issue was not so much the size of the fund as that there was im- pressive evidence of its use in violation of electoral morality.” “Vare was not entitled to his seat under any concept of good morals or ublic _decency,” asserts the Anniston gur (Democratic), while the Meridian Star (Democratic) states that “for the Senate to seat the creature of corrup- tion would be tantamount to corrupting the Senate itself,” and the Chattanooga News (independent Democratic) empha- sizes the point that “the Senate requires that its members come with clean ‘The evils of large expenditures in campalgns are viewed as a reason for popular disapproval of Vare, in com- ment by the Manchester Union. (inde- pendent Republican), the Dallas Journal (ndependent Democratic) and the Springfield (I1l.) State Register (inde- pendent). ‘The Newark Evenings News (independent) maintains: “No one likes to hit a sick man. -It is unpleasant to (see Mr. Vare made a victim. Yet a vic- tim must be made if the cynical idea that Senate seats are on the auction block is to be checked. Declaring Vare's seat vacant will not put an end to elec- tion frauds and the excessive use of money 1n politics. Rich men will keep on buying their way into the Senate “The Senate again showed that it| Constitutional Questions Hotly Debated in Vare Case and other offices, excusing themselves to themselves. This tendency can b: held in check only by eternal vigilance and by making examples of flagrant offenders.” L Approval of the Senate's action on the ground of political eorruption is given by the Savannah Press (Demo- | cratic), St. Louis Post-Dispatch (inde- pendent), Columbus Evening Dispatch tindependent), Milwaukee Journal (in- dependent), Topeka Daily Capital (Re- publican), Columbus Ohio State Jour- pal! (Republican) and Scranton Times (Democratic). The Birmingham News (Democratic) holds that the action was Justified. The Houston Chronicle (Dem- ocratic) suggests that “Newberry was a piker compared with Vare,” and the Great Falls Tribune (independent Dem- ocratic) voices the eonviction that his “close affiliation with a corrupt political machine in Philadelphia was not rel- ished by the country at large.” The Omaha World-Herald (inde- pendent) feels the Nation as a whole should stand behind the Senate be- cause while it “may be able, when the recurring scandals become too notorious 1o ignore, to protect itself from the con- tamination. "But only a whole people, aroused to a realization of the grisly menace, can save the democracy which is their birthright.” “The result of Vare's failure to obtain admission to the Senate,” according to the Roanoke Times (independent Demo- cratic), “puts the country definitely on notice that it cannot send politicians to ‘Washington whose credentials are tainted and hope to have those creden- tials honored. That 25 Senators be- longing to Vare's own party broke away and voted with the Damocrats to keep him out is significant of the feeling in the Senate about the necessity of put- ting a limit to the lengths to which senatorial aspirants may go.” * K ok X “The Vare gang made the election a sham, a farce and a national scandal,” as viewed by the Portland Oregon Journal (independent), while the Santa Barbara Daily News (Democratic) con- cludes that “possibly the men who be- lieve in a golden pavement of the path to the Senate soon will revise their views on this matter or at least change their methods.” Many others, while making no de- fense of corruption, feel the Senate’s action unjustified. Protests against the action of the Senate, on the ground that it is an al tack on the State itself or that it estab- lishes a dangerous precedent, are uttered by the Harrisburg Telegraph (inde- pendent Republican), Providence Bul- letin (independent), Erie Dispatch-Her- ald (Republican), Cincinnati Times- Star (Republican) and Allentown Call (non-partisan). Regretting that “a State’s certificate of election has been dishonored and the Senate has assumed the authority to say how a sovereign commonwealth shall choose its representatives in the Congress,” the Charleston Evening Post (independent Democratic) states that the case “ought to have been disposed of in three hours by acceptance of the certificate and seating of Vare” and then “the question of his moral fitness might have been raised.” The New York Sun (independent) quotes an )mnglnlr{ dispatch, forecast- ing events of the future and dated in 1937, in these words: “The United States Senate, reduced to a triumvirate composed of Senators Brookhart, Blease and Heflin, by successive rejections of Senators elected by the several States, today voted against recognition of Vice President Bleeker as presiding officer of the Senate. ‘He is not acceptable to us,’ sald an official spokesman for the Sen- ate.” oo Not Unfit. From the Lynchburg News. Still, no son of a wild ass has been thrown out of the Senate on his ear be- cause he wasn't fit to occupy his seat. what terrible crimes fear will not bring | THE LIBRARY TABLE l By the Booklover When one has enjoyed intensely tha' “Kristin Lavrensdatter” trilogy of Sig- rid Undset and has enjoyed with less enthusiasm, but still very much, thes first two volumes of “The Master of Hestviken” tetralogy, it is a disappoint- ment to find the third volume so thin in | substance and so lethargic in style. The | first two volumes, “The Axe” and “The | Snake Pit,” follow the life of Olav| Audunsson through childhood. youth and early maturity. Family feuds, mur- der, outlawry. friendlessness, are his lot; but he finally marries Ingunn Stein- finnsdatter, his childhood’s companion | and love, and comes into possession of his patrimony of Hestviken. But family feuds have separat>d him too long from both Ingunn and Hestviken, and when | he takes his bride to his house and lands {on the Oslo fiord she is already the mother of a “base-born” son. This boy, | becomes a_source of lifelong bitterness |to Olav. The memories of unexpiated {knows no health after her marriage. At |the end of “The Snake Pit” she d after years of being bed-ridden. Olav is left a widower, with his wife’s son, |'his and Ingunn's only living child, | Cecilia. and off in a hut in the hills | his illegitimate son, Bjorn, whose {mother 1s the handsome, robust Tor- maid at Hestviken. EEE |, The third volume of the tetralogy, “In the Wilderness,” opens with Olav living alone at Hestviken, with the chil- drei), Eirik and Cecilia, and his serviog men and malds. A coarse, witless woman, Liv, is in charge of his house, \hllb he soon marries her to one of the serving men and sends them away to a hut of their own. He has no taste for further marriage and still mourns his dead wife, though his life with her brought him little happiness. fuses a marriage with a wealthy widow, prepesed for him by reiatives, cures an_elderly woman of good birth, | Maerta Birgersdatter, to be his house- | keeper. She brings with her the little Bothild, her granddaughter, who be- comes Cecilia’s foster-sister. Olav him- seli spends many of the years which follow the death of Ingunn in wander- ing. First he goes to England on a trading voyage with two Oslo men of English descent. Gloom and brooding unhappiness follow him there, and he contemplates entering & monastery, but knows that he is not suited to the mo- nastic life, not because of his hardships but because of its monotonous routine "|and petty regulations—"“the brotherly life; the hours of converse, when a monk has to show humility and gentle- ness toward his fellows, whether he likes them or not, whether he be minded Im speak or be silent; to have to go out among sirangers or to serve in the guest { house when the prior bade him, even if he would rather be alone.” So he re- turns to Hestviken, and feels no thrill at again seeing his home and his chil- dren. When news comes that Duke Eirik of Sweden has invaded Norway, Olav welcomes the thought of war, be- cause in fighting he may find peace for his tortured soul. He joins Sir Jon Raud and his son, Ivar Jonsson, who are leading levies for the defense of their country, and plays a daring and courageous part in the fighting which follows. At the close of “In the Wilder- ness” Olav returns, wounded, to Hest- viken, where the old Maerta Birger: datter admits him, with the two girls, Cecllia and Bothild, in a home where little remains but the houses, for “the Swedes had cut down and carried off all they found.” * ok ok ok ‘The modern history of Scotland has been to a large extent a part of the | history of England, but Scotland had an independent ancient history, which is related in Holinshed's and Hall's “Chronicles” and is used in Shake- speare’'s “Macbeth.” A book of fairly recent date which deals interestingly “Their Majesties of Scotland,” by E. Thornton Cook. This account begins with Lady Macbeth, known in history as Gruoch, and ends with the Cardinal- ! Duke of York, sometimes known as Henry IX. The early period, that of Kenneth McAlpine, who in a measure harmonized the scattered tribes of Scot- and and united them into one nation, |and of his descendants, was a time of | bloodshed, daring deeds, romance and tragedy. It began in the ninth century. Macbeth MacFinlay, “the red one, fair, yellow and tall,” was the second hus- {band of Gruoch, or Lady Macbeth. | Historically, she had in that age of swift vengeance some reason for the ruthless murder of King Runcan, to which she drove her husband. Her kins- men had besn murdered by the grand- father of King Duncan, the usurping Malcolm, and by him her first husband, Gillacomgan, and his band had been burned alive. Her son, Lulach, born shortly after, was always dubbed “The Witless.” Knowing this and remember- ing that the period was barbaric, we can understand more easily her terri- ble soliloquy, beginning: “Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here And fill me from the crown to the toe top full Of direct cruelty! Make thick my blood; Stop up the access and passage to remorse.” Gruoch'’s successor was the pious and much-loved St. Margaret of Scotland, who was born the sister of the Saxon, Edgar Atheling, deposed by William the Conqueror. She was that rare thing in those days, a learned woman; and her husband, equally rare, revered her learn- ing and had her books bound in gold and set in gems. Scotland for independence from Eng- land, under the Scotch heroes Balliol, Bruce and Wallace, and the battles of Bannockburn, Flodden and Culloden are familiar history. Even more familiar is the history of Mary Queen of Scots, first married to Francis II of France and later to Lord Darnley, who was murdered, in all probability, through the schemes of Mary and her lover, the Earl of Bothwell. Mary's execution by Queen | Elizabeth of England and the question whether or not Elizabeth was justified in her act are always of great interest to young atuder:‘ts of history. * K ok “Alexander,” by Konrad v not. flotion, but seems e 1 1o s stirring narrative of the adventures of the restless genius called Alexander the Great, son of the politician-general | Philip of Macedon and the red-haired barbarian Queen Olympias. when a mere youth led his devoted army across the Hellespont, defeated the dread Persians and took over their em- pire, and then aspired to the conquest of India. He was a worn-out veteran at 30. The fact that his conquests did not result in a permanent empire does not make thelr*hlito:y less thrilling. ® Alexander Marguerite Harrison, study of Asia, has written “Asia Re- born,” an account of the progress of Asla since the World War, with inter- pretations of her own, She tells of the conflict between various Asiatic coun- tries and European powers during the Ppast 50 years, and of how these conflicts affected the part played by Asia in the war. Since the war Asia has been de- veloping & life of her own; or, more accurately, the countries have been de- veloping lives of their owns The part of the book dealing with the post-war period is divided into parts on a geo- graphical basis—the Moslem countrie: Arabia and Asia Minor, Indla, Burmi Tibet and Malaysia. Russia, Mrs, Har- rison says, has returned to Asia. * oxox ok Osbert Burdett in his book, “The Brownings,” represents the 15 years of the marriage of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning as merely the brief central span of their love. Robert Browning loved Elizabeth Barrett, ac- cording to his own account, for a long period before he even met her, and they corresponded for some time without having seen each other. After Mrs Browning's death her influence con tinued throughout the long years o Browning's widowerhood, as i evi- denced by many of his later poems. after vears of Eirik, accepted at Hestviken as a son, | crimes also torment him, and Ingunn, | {always a mental and physical weakling, | jes | He re-| but se-| with the separate history of Scotland is | The later struggle of | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ] HASKI Teke advantage of this free service., 1f you are one of the thousands who | have patronized this bureau, write us| again. If you have never used the service, begin now. It is maintained for your benefit. Be sure to send you name and address with your question | and inclose 2 cents in coin or stamps| for return postage. Address The Eve- | ning Star Intormation Bureau, Frederic| J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. | Q. What kind of a telephone has| President Hoover in his office?—C. P. A. His desk phone is one of the hand phones which are becoming increasingly popular in this country. | Q. What railroad received the Harri- man gold medal this year>—T. H. A. The Harmnman gold medal, awarded annually to the railroad mak- |ing the best safety record, again was given to the Union Pacific. This is the | third time this Western road has been awarded this honor. In making the ratings the committée of awards takes iinto account passenger and employe casualties and all other casualties to non-trespassers reportable to the Inter- state Commerce Commission. The sil- ver medal for roads operating less than 10,000,000 locomotive miles, is awarded the Duluth, Missabe and Northern. Q. Do the rebels in the revolutions in Mexico have flags of their own?— E.P. W. A. The Mexican embassy says that all the rebels in Mexico always carry the Mexican flag instead of using flags of their own. *Q. Is the work of a jinior college the equivalent of two or three years of regular college work?—G. 8. W. A. Such_schools give two | college work. Q. How many times was washington married?—A. E. A. He was married three times. years of Booker T. S. Q. Why is French bread served with the slices held together by the bottom crust?—M. L. A. Not to cut all the way through keeps the slices close together and helps to maintain the freshness and taste of the bread. Q. Where were the Greclan Olympic games held? At what season of the year?—H, M. A. The most famous of the four great national festivals of the Greeks was the Olympic games. They were celebrated in the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia every four years, but, owing to the fluctuations of the Greek lunar calendar, the time varied from the be- ginning of August to the middle of September. Olympia was situated in the Pisatis, the southeast district of Elis at the junction of the Cladeus with the Alpheus. It was never a town but only a sanctuary with the buildings con- nected with the worship and the games. Q. For whom was the rose, Souvenir de Claudius Pernet, named?—M. K. A. The great rose grower of France, Pernet, named the yeliow rose Souvenir de Claudius Pernet in memory of his gxlnm son, who fell during the World ar, Q. Where is Fort Wood?—T. W. A. The War Department says that Fort Wood is the post at the Statue of ; ste is per cent of the live weigh! of a cow it is 48 per cent. Q. Was Daniel D. Tompkins in pub- li~ coffice when he was elected Vice President of the United States?— T. O. B. A. He was Governor of New York and resigned to assume the office of Vice President. Q. What is suede?—L. K. A. Buede is usually mocha or lamb- skin tanned on the wrong or bleached eide or with the thin. glossy outer grain shaved or peeled off, leaving an un- dressed surface. Q. Whxt is the cause of a circle around the moon?—E. M. H. A. There are two kinds of rings about the moon. Those that are close in- only one to four or five diameters of the moon away—which we call coronas, are caused by water droplets. The smaller the droplets the larger the ring. The other rings, the true halos, occur- ring much farther away, are caused by ice crystals. There arc several such rings, but each one always has the same anguiar size. This size depends on the shape of the crystal. Q. How can one tell when the water in an aquarium needs changing?—E. B. A. When the bubbles come to the top of an aquarium the water needs more oxygen. The water should be changed and the bottom of the aqu-rium should be cleaned. Q. What American city was the last to raise the American flag during the Revolution?—J. W. A. New Ycrk was the last city to salute the national colors, as the Brit- ish were in control of that city until November 25, 1783, but at 3 o'clock of that day the Americans took posses- sion and the Stars and Stripes were hoisted over the city and duly recog- nized and honored. Q. Why do wild birds peck at win- dows?—P. J. M. A. 1t is called shadow boxing. The bird is fighting its own reflection in the glass. The mocking bird, the robin and cardinal are often attracted to win- dows. Q. What determines whether or not a person is insane?—R. G. A. Insanity is a purely legal term. It resolves itself into testamentary ca- grc'llty. and this varies with every juris- ction, Q. Name the instrument devised by Paderewski to_imitate the sound of thunder—M. B. N, A. Paderewski has perfected an affair that he calls the tonitruone, which he has used in some of his works to imi- tate thunder. But the new instrument has not replaced the kettledrum' for this purpose. Q. Why was the Chevrolet ear so named?—R. E. R. A. It was named after Louis and Ga. ton Chevrolet, racing drivers. Q. Are cannibals to be found any- where in South America?>—W. W. L. A. Cannibal tribes are still in exist- ence in the jungles of the central part of South America, particularly in ti | Liberty in New York Harbor. Amazon Basin in Brazil. | Mystery BY BJORN BUNKHOLDT. OSLO, Norway.—Prof. Georg Mor- genstjerne has returned to Oslo after a prolonged expedition to the north- | western borders of India on behalf of the Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture. His expedition brings back remarkable results—espe- clally from the small native country of Chitra, which is still inhabited by the | last descendants of the Kafirs. ‘The | Kafirs, according to Prof. Morgen- | stjerne, live in their own world, both in regard to language and religion. Mo~ hammedanism surrounds them every- where, and every other day a few Kafirs are converted to Islam. “It was the last opportunity to col- lect information about this tribe,” Prof. Morgenstjerne said, “and I am_glad that my task was successful. I got several objects of considerable eth- nographic interest—sculptures, utensils, etc. I was able to study their lJanguage and take some of their songs on gramo- phone records, and I was also allowed to take motion pictures of heathen re- ligious ceremonies. “Their language especially was highly interesting, and some of the words in everyday speech were even older than Sanskrit. Generally speaking, one may | say that the Kafirs' culture, religion “and language have been canned and preserved unaltered for thousands of years.” * ok K K The Kalfirs live in villages scattered over a comparatively wide area, ac- cording to Prof. Morgenstierne, and each tribe has been isolated by nature itself by mountain ridges 15,000 to 20,000 feet high. Narrow passes are the only means of communication with the outside world. Nature has created a sort of reservation, and the result is a bewildering mass of dialects. In & valley in Afghanistan there are five villages, with a total of about 1000 inhabitants. Each of these villages had its own dialect, so different from the neighboring one that a man going 10 miles from his native place could not make himself understood. Prof. Morgenstjerne’s expedition started from Peshawar and was es- corted by soldiers because of the fre- quent attacks of robbers in these dis- tricts, but no robbers were seen, and on arriving in Chitra the party was amicably received by the tribes there. * ok ok X “I got permission to take a film of the queer dances which the Kafirs use during their religious ceremonies,” the professor said. “They dance to the music of a flute and drum, and the musical result strongly reminds one of the African tom-tom. There are no human sacrifices and few idols. Instead of idols the Kafirs put up long rows of images of their an- cestors cut in wood. The most power- ful of these ancestors are seated on weoden horses, and some of them have two horses, one for a servant. The servants are always made on & smaller scale than the masters. “It i a most remarkable fact that the Kafirs place their forefathers on horses, as there is not a single horse in the whole of Chitra, and hardly any living Kafir _has seen or heard about a horse. My personal opinion is that the horse is a_sort of heraldic animal used as we in Europe use lions. At least a horse is a stranger animal to a Kafir than a lion is to a European, * k% % “One of the chiefs sang some of his religious songs for me and I recorded his song on my gramophone without his noticing it. When later I made the gramophone repeat the song his cyes nearly protruded from his head, “Each of the tribes has its own mys- tic man, w seer and truth-teller, who Roes Into trances and says all sorts of things, I tried (0 speak to one of the seers. IL was easy to see that he was an eplleptic, and during our conversation he fell into a fit and be- gan 0 murmur incoherently, Many men had to hold him down while the attack lasted. It often happens dur- ing the teligious dances that the men after howrs of wild movements col- lapze and go it trances. “The Kafite put their dead in coffins | and place the cofins on the surface of the ground, In our day this may be all right in so far as the tribes Kafir Tribes Keep Old Ways Along Indian Border number so few people, but in older days the many coffins must have bec) an awful pest. Cn these bui there lay some skul's very much, sines they would be valuable for any collcction, so I tor some. * K ¥ ok “During Winter there is good oppor tunity for hunting in Chitra. Ther are plenty of be: and wolves and bir specimens of diTerent goat familles with long, curved horns. The bow and ar- row are not used much by the natives now. Some.have European rifles and many make their rifles themselves. These latter are long-barreled and primitive, but not as bad as one might think, although they were made with very primitive means. The barrel was drilled with a plece of iron and the maker had no drilling machine, but used his hands. I am at a loss to understand how it was possible with so simple means to drill the barrel straight, yet it was done. The art of making rifles in these districts is old, and during the war in 1830 the home- made rifles of the Afghans had a wider range than the English military rifes. “The first indications of western civilizations have now reached Chitra and in a few years perhaps all the old customs will have disappeared. The mechar, who resides in the widest of the valleys, has purchased an automo- bile, which he saw at Peshawar. The car had first to be taken several miles through nearly impassable land, then it had literally to be carried over high mountain passes. Now the mechar has had a stretch of road especially made in his small state to use his car, and he is able to take a run of 20 miles every day.” ) Coolidge’s Deft:nse Of Senate Is Lauded From the Los Angeles Evening Express. In his autobiography, just published, former President Coolidge makes a timely d thorough defense of the United States Senate, of which, he says, that although it often is called dila- tory, the Senate, in fact, passes more legislation than the House, and in ad- dition must act upon thousands of pres- idential nominations to posts the Government and numerous _treaties with foreign governments, but its prime and vindicating function is that of a deliberative body. “It may seem that debate is endless,” says Mr. Coolidge, “but there is scarcely a time when it is not informing and, after all, the pow- er to compel due consideration is a dis- tinguishing mark of a deliberative body. If the Senate is anything it is a great deliberative body, and if it is to re- main a safeguard of liberty it must re- main a deliberative body. It has become the fashion to criticize and ridicule the Senate. Some do so thoughtlessly, or in the belief that it is smart. Some of our wisecrackers aim their darts at the Senate because they have found it wins them a laugh for small effort. Some have deep design in their attacks, the aim being to de- stroy public confidence in the Senate and thus undermine its influence. These are not friends of the American form of government. ‘When as Vice President he became the rl’esidlng officer of the Senate, Mr. Coolidge began, he tells, a study of the rules, but soon gave it up as unneces- sary because, he adds humorously, “I soon found that the Senate had but one fixed rule, subject to exceptions, of course, which was to the effect that the Senate would do anything it want- ed to do whenever it wanted to do it. And he glories in that independence. Had Gen. Dawes, when he succeeded to the Vice President's chair, perceived what Mr. Coolidge did, he might have been saved some anguish of spirit and ;‘t‘x:hm\‘mtry tl'uf spfl]-tan’:le of its second lest executive Ing the T st n he ate has its faults Mr. ' Coolidge does not deny, but they are in the personnel, and the Senate, he re minds us, does not choose its own mem- bers, I Cay From the Cle i V't Mo Dona | Pk Detter. ‘The mayor of the city of Mass., gives it out that he put a stop to flirting on Won't the Lynn without any gin:\ is the strd 3