Evening Star Newspaper, December 15, 1929, Page 45

FOR AMERI CAN SHIPPING Naval Captain Expl_ail}é Treaty Provisions| as It Is Applied to Protection for United States. BY CAPT. HERBERT S. HOWARD, Construction Corps, United States Navy. ITHIN the last few years, and there has been a great deal written and talked about cruisers. Geneva confer- Iately the prime minister of Great Brit- ain has proposed a further discussion of their building. with the result that considered holding up the construction of three of our own new cruisers, au- thorized by the last Congress, until a held. Following this suggestion came the visit of Mr. Macdonald to the United States with the definite plans for a 930. Into this discussion have come vari- ous technical arguments about cruisers peculiar terms about “yardsticks,” un- til the ordinarily intelligent man in the street must won-ler what it is all about, as too involved and technical for any one not trained in naval and inter- national naval matters. my attention some days ago by a man of high intelligence, who, when he found I was in the Navy, asked me if I why there was all this discussion of cruisers, but just what a “cruiser” might be; whether it was a capital ship, & these, and what was a “yardstick.” If these are the typical speculations of an individual interested in the discussions it is all about, it seems to me that an explanation which may throw some light on the subject is due the thinking Cruisers Are Distance Ships. Since our Navy was first created we have always had cruisers, for no matter a cruiser has always been a vessel in- tended to cruise at distances from the fighting fleet to hunt for and bring back vessels or attack the merchant fleets of the enemy, and to act in the light, fast wings of the formation in time of battle. particularly in recent months, ences have argued about them, and very the President of the United States has new international conference can be naval conference in London in January, of long radius or short radius, with if he has not given the whole thing up This attitude was brought forcibly to could please explain to him not only battle cruiser, a warship or any one of of cruisers and trying to find out what people of the country. whether a navy be of steel or of wood, information, to guard fleets of merchant ‘To fulfill these duties a cruiser must always be a ship of higher speed than the heavy ship built to stand up in the line of battle, and to gain this higher speed the cruiser must be smaller and lighter, with smaller guns than the heavy line-of-battle ships. In the old days of the wooden Navy such cruisers were called frigates, and it was in cruisers such as the Ranger, Constitution and Constellation that the foundations of our naval history and tradition were laid. ‘Times have changed, and ships of wood and canvas have become ships of steel and steam, but the cruiser, now @s _then, is the high-speed scout. Until the treaty limiting naval arm- aments between Great Britain, Japa France, Italy and the United States went into effect, in 1921, the cruiser was content to be described in approxi- mate terms such as have been outlined above. In that treaty, however, were given definitions which fixed closely when a cruiser was a cruiser and when it became something else. ‘Warships Are Described. Basically, cruisers, capital ships and other types referred to in the treaty and discussed +so glibly in the daily papers are all “warships”; that is, ships equipped with guns, gun or bomb- carrying airplanes or any other fight- ing weapon. They may range from the 42,000-ton battle cruiser Hood of the British Navy to a small gunboat of 1,000 tons, but they are all warships. The treaty defined a ‘“capital ship” as a vessel larger than 10,000 tons and car- rying larger than 8-inch guns, but lim- ited the vessels of this class to an indi- vidual size of 35,000 tons, under certain given conditions of measurement, and specified that such ships might not be armed with guns larger than 16 inches in caliber. Aside from the treaty limitations, a capital afiip is the modern prototype of the old wooden line-of-battle ship—a ship with guns large enough and armor heavy enough to stand in the line of battle and give and take the heaviest blows in direct combat. Within this category there are grouped two classes— battleships and battle cruisers. Battle- ships have generally the accepted speed of the battle line, 21 to 23 knots, with the greatest number of heavy guns and the heaviest armor, while battle cruisers are generally armed with the same heavy guns, but numbers of guns and thickness of armor have been sacrificed to high speed. In passing, it might be mentioned that in our own Navy we have no battle cruisers, our heavy ship- building having been concentrated in battleships. It was in this class of “capital ships” that the nations sig- natory to the treaty agreed to the now famous 5-5-3 ratio, and in this class no controversy as to building has arisen. As another special class the treaty defined an “aircraft carrier” as a ship #0 built that airplanes can be launched from or alight upon her decks, and limitations were placed upon the dis-| placement, and gun power of an indi- | vidual aircraft carrier and upon the total displacement of such war vessels| which each nation might possess. Treaty Establishes Deadline. ‘Thus by these requirements of the treaty a deadline was made, marked by a displacement of 10,000 tons and a gun 8 inches in caliber, above which ships were carefully defined and limits| st as to total numbers and individual | sizes in which these ships could be built, but below this deadline the fleld was left wide open. In this wide-open field nations were free to build any and all kinds of warships which they pleased, and it is in this field that the modern cruiser appeared which led to the discussion now confronting the world. Before the time of the treaty modern cruisers, whether designed particularly for use with the battle fleets or for the protection or destruction of commerce, | were generally ships of 3,000 to 6,000 tons, armed with 5 or 6 inch guns, and | with speeds around 29 knots, although Since the World War our foreign commerce has grown by leaps and | bounds. Before the war this commerce | amounted to $4,000.000,000, but in the year 1927 this same foreign trade| amounted to the immense total of | $10,000,000,000. Of this amount almost | $3,000,000,000 worth was carried American’ ships. H No merchant would let his ships, or | the goods carried in those ships, to sea | without insurance, but if war should | | come the only insurance against its | risks is given by a navy, and if the | Navy is to be the real insurance which the ‘country has the right to expect, it must be powerful enough and pos- sessed of ships of the type needed fo enable it to do its part. Failing this, our merchant ships must stay at home, tied up as in the days of Thomas Jef- ferson's embargo, while the useless goods lie rotting in warehouses or on the plers. Such a solution to the dan- gers of war is unthinkable. As_protectors of commerce cruisers are the ideal type, and no other ships will do as well. Large enough to keep the seas in all weather, more heavily gunned than armed merchant ships of the enemy, strong enough and fast enough to hunt down and sink enemy commerce raiders, and with long cruis- ing radius and high speed. so that they can convoy fleets of merchant ships or patrol the ocean lanes of commerce. they are designed with this very end in view. Cruisers Needed in Fleet. ‘These cruisers, too, are needed in the fleet. A fleet, like an army on land, needs its distant scouts to seek information in spite of minor opposi- tion, and its fast, light forces to_carry out or counter torpedo attack. By no vessels other than cruisers can this work be done. It was in this very class of ship that our Navy in 1921 found itself the weak- est. We had a fair number of old armored cruisers, built in 1904 and 1905, but hopelessly out of date when viewed in the light of after-war condi- tions. Eleven of these old vessels have been kept on the lists, since it was felt that in time of real need they might well be better than nothing. Of | modern cruisers we possessed but 10, fine, up-to-date ships of 7,500 tons. all completed between 1923 and 1925. Even these ships, however, are small and out- classed by the new type created by the treaty. Do the people of this country realize that from that day to this the United States has not completed and put in service a single cruiser, and those 10 ships, designed and built dur- ing the war, with the 25-year-old ar- mored cruisers all the ships of this type we have now in service? After many explanations and argu- ments by the Navy Department, the country and Congress were brought to understand that we must bulld cruis- ers of the type made necessary by the treaty, and in 1924 the building of eight 10,000-ton cruisers was authorized. The first two of this group of eight will be completed in the course of the next few months, but the last six will not be completed until 1930 or 1931, Realizing that this group of eight ships_made only a good start toward the Navy's needs, an endeavor was made in Congress in 1928 to authorize a regular program of building of big cruisers which would give the Navy the minimum number needed to round out its deficiencies in this tyre of ships and would spread the building of these ships over a period of years so that construction would not be too concen- trated upon the shipyards and new ships would join the fleet at regular tervals. New Cruisers Authorized. After a year or more of discussion, 15 new cruisers were Aauthorized in March, 1929, five to be started in 1929, five in 1930 and five in 1931. Contracts for two out of the first five were let, but as construction of the other three of this first group was about to be started, the suggestion for a conference on naval building was made by the British prime minister, and in®response to this suggestion but two ships are at present going forward. Future events only will show how many of these eruisers will actually be completed for the Navy. During these years when our country was being educated as to the Navy's needs for cruisers, England was build- ing ecruisers, slowly but steadily, each year a number being authorized. Th= result of this program is that she has now, completed and in service in her | pavy, ten cruisers with 8-inch guns, eight of 10,000 tons and two of abouf 9,000 tons, all started and finished since the treaty, and she is in addition build- ing seven 10,000-ton cruisers more. Similarly, Japan, with the coming of the treaty, began building 10,000-ton cruisers, and she now has eight of these ships completed or nearly completed. In addition, recent press reports have stated that she is to build more cruisers definitely of this same size and type and a number of other vessels which may or may not be similar. France and Italy have not been far behind, and although their navies are admittedly in a class below that of | England, Japan and the United States, | they have each completed two big cruis- | ers and two or three more are under construction. When the Washington treaty for limitation of naval armament went into effect the ordinary individual certainly formed the opinion that competition n navies and naval building was ended, probably once and for all, and if he remembered anything concrete it was a 5-5-3 ratio which, he was led to be- lieve, represented the relative strengths of the American, British and Japanesc navies. However, although very exten- sive building of new ships has not taken place, it can be seen from the preceding that the field for a lively competition in building cruisers was left open and a certain amount of competition has actually taken place, although our own place in the competition has been well toward the rear. Into this question came the subject of parity, brought up particularly in the Geneva Conference of 1927. Al- though rather hopelessly outdistanced in this new naval race in cruisers, the the British did have one class armed with guns of 7.5-inch caliber and of displacement_approaching 10,000 tons. | Of the smaller type were the famous | German rajder Emden and the British | Sydney, which_ destroyed her. With the new upper limit of 10,000 tons and | 8-inch guns, the natural result was that each naval nation decided at once that | its needs would only be met by ships of the largest size and of the greatest power which could be built. So Eng- land, Japan, Prance, Italy and our- selves set to work to design and to build, in limited numbers at least, ships of this type. Such a program was prob- ably natural. If one navy has a ship of a certain type which another navy may conceivably have to meet, ships to meet this type must be built. In our own Navy the case was in aImos* no sense one of competition, but one of absolute need to enable the Navy to perform the work which the coun- try would expect if war should un- ‘happily come. Commerce Protection Vital, Foremost in this work comes the pro- tection of commerce. No one who fol- lowed or has read about the World War can have failed to be impressed with the daring cruises of the German raid- ‘ers in their harrying of the Enclish ‘commerce. Or, to go farther back and in our own history, it was the raids of -John Paul Jones, with his little cruisers, ‘on the English commerce that brought ‘consternation to the 47176, British Isles l.n‘ American delegates insisted that should any agreement be made which would limit_cruiser building, we maintained | the right to have equal cruiser strength with Great Britain, although we might well never build up to such a figure. In spite of arguments that the naval roblems of the two countries were en- tirely different, equality in strength be- | tween Great Britain and ourselves ma be taken as a basic point in any discus: sion of the future, “Yardstick” Appears. A complication was introduced’ into | the discussion when Great Britain said | that in her opinion 10,000-ton cruisers | were larger than needed for her pur- poses and made a suggestion that future building be limited to smaller sizes. | The United States said that such might be the case for Great Britain, with naval bases scattered throughout the seas of all the oceans, but for us, with few naval bases, our cruisers must be larger to keep the seas for long crulses without the need to seek a base for fuel | supplies except in long intervals. Some- where about this point an impasse wus reached and for a time discussions were dropped. Then appeared the famous ‘“yard- | stick.” America said that if the British | wanted a certain kind of cruiser and we wanted another, we believed we coula THE SUNDAY NAVY IS HELD INSURANCE i | STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, DECEMBER 15, 1929—PART. TWO. 'SOCIAL REVOLUTION STILL Plumbing the Universe With Six-Trillion-Mile Light Year as Yardstick, V. There are about the universe. BY GEORGE W. GRAY. ¢ LL things flow,” said Herac- . litus 2,500 vears ago, and the latest findings of astrono- mers at the Harvard College Observatory, where a grand survey of the universe is now under way, confirm this ancient guess of the old Greek. From the innermost electron in the smallest grain of dust to the largest galaxy in interstellar space, all things move—flow—whirl their rest- less dance of life. Though only half completed, already the survey has ylelded rich returns. More than 1,000 variable stars, each dazzling giant sun. have been discov- ered. Nearly 10,000 island universes have been found. Within the Milky Way itself the center around which our universe turns has been determined. Vast star clouds, streaming like morn- ing mists around the universal pivot, have been charted and catalogued. Not only have the Harvard astrono- mers found the center of the universe, but they have made their observatory a foremost center of news of the universe. It seems particularly appropriate, there- fore, that astronomers from all parts of the United States and Canada are gath- ering at Harvard during Christmas week to hear of the latest discoveries, expose their newest theories to criticism and exchange ideas on the cosmic riddles. It is the annual Winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society. You may be sure that the visiting astrono- mers will have many questions about this ambitious survey which has the whole system of worlds as its fleld and which is moving forward so rapidly to brilliant and stimulating results. One cannot visit the historic_observatory in Cambridge without feeling a ‘‘some- thing” in the air, a sense of eagerness and quest, the thrill of continuing dis- covery. Picture Made by Powerful Telescope. On a recent visit there, as I sat in his office asking Dr. Harlow Shapley about these things, he picked up a recent photograph made with one of the powerful telescopes at the Harvard southern station. “This one plate,” he said, “shows more than a thousand outside galaxies.” They looked like so many fuzzy patches of light, but such is the refining power of the modern telescope, spectro- scope and photographic: plate that it has been possible to identify these tiny spots as_spiral nebulae—which means that each is a whorl of separate stars, an island universe, a miniature of our Milky Way. It ‘would be impossible to photograph the Milky Way on a single plate. Our galaxy is all around us. Indeed, we are part of it and can see only a small segment one time. Our only Milky BY HENRY W. BUNN. HE following is a brief summary | of the most important news of the world for the seven days ended December. 14: GERMANY.—On November 30 the Reichstag rejected the “liberty bill” by an overwhelming majority. ~The bill will be referred to the people on De- cember 22. It is evident that nothing short of a political earthquake in the interval will secure it a popular ma- jority. Some dozen Reichstag Deputies of the Nationalist (or National Ger- man People’s) party having voted against the bill, Dr. Hugenberg, head of the party, caused disciplinary pro- ceedings to be ‘nstituted against them as party membuts, whereupon they re- signed from the party. The violent disagreement within the party over the bill is likely to have momentous con- sequences to German politics. The second zone of allied occupation on the Rhine (the Coblenz Bridgehead, Bridgehead No. 2) ceased to exist on November 30 with its evacuation by the French troops, & month in advance of the date contemplated by the Versaillles treaty. ‘The first zone of occupation (Cologne Bridgehead, Bridgehead No. 1) lapsed on June 30, 1926. Unless some hitch occurs with reference to the | Young plan the third zone (Mainz- Frankfort-Wiesbaden) will be evacuated by June 30, 1930, four and a half years ahead of the date named for evacuation in the Versailles treaty. Rl CHINA —Apparently an agreement between Moscow and Mukden on the Chinese Eastern Railway question has been consummated, and apparently the Nanking government has formally sig- nified approval thereof; agreement on the basis of Mosco demands very slightly modified in the interest of Chi- nese “save-face.” The settlement, how- crer, has a certain wabbly and anaemic look. I refrain from adding to the multi- tudinous comment on Mr. Stimson’s note reminding the Moscow government of its obligations under the Kellogg pact. The reply by M. Litvinow, Russian foreign zommissar, was sufficiently saucy. Point- ing out that Mr. Stimson's note Was dispatched at the precise juncture when Moscow-Mukden _direct negotiations were in process, he pronounced it an attempt to influence those negotiations adversely to Moscow, in fine, an un- friendly act. The Soviet governmeng was “surprised that the United States, which, by its own desire, was not in relations with the Soviet Union, sho undertake to give advice to the latt By way of sur-rejoinder, Mr. Stimson issued a statement to the press, deny- ing M. Litvinov’s imputations and pa- tiently explaining his position, as to children. For the Russian psychology is at once childish and of a fantastic Slav-Mongoloid blend, and it's kettle dealing with the like. ‘The Chinese internal situation has developed 1n an amazing manner with- in the fortnight. A forinight ago mat- ters seemed in happy train for Chang Kai-Shek and the Nanking government. The Kuominchun seemed to have been dealt with decisively, whether by the leaden or by the silver bullet; it seemed safe to detach to Canton a force suffi- clent to insure liquidation of that pes- tiferous Chang Fa-Kwel and his Kwangsi supporters. Surely, at the least, a goodly breathing space ahead. But no! On December 3 a division at Pukow (opposite Nanking on the Yangtze), ordered to embark for Can- ton, mutinies, loots Pukow and pro- ceeds up country by train, seizing roll- ing stock en route to delay pursuit, At make up a formula into which we could put cruisers of all sizes, guns and ages. | and finally have the allowed X of Great (Continued on Fifth Page.) Pengtu they entrain, and soon they are joined by disaffected units. Here, there, everywhere, troops ordered in pursuit The Famous Harvard Observatory at Cambridge. Lower: Dr. Harlow Shaple: ~Drawn for The Sunday Star by S. Way photographs are composites ‘made up of many pictures pieced together. But here a single plate, within its 14 by 17 inches, had photographed more than a thousand “universes.” “We were able to get so many on one plate because these bodies are very re- mote,” explained Dr. Shapley. “They are at least 10,000,000 light years distant.” Light, moving at its constant velocity of 186,000 miles a second, will travel in one year about 6,000,000,000,000 miles. Multiply that by 10,000,000 and you have the distance to these bright outside galaxies that shine through the open yet. A manifesto is circulated by tele- graph criticizing the government, de- nouncing Chang Kai-Shek, demanding the return of Wang Ching-Wei, leader of the left wing of the Kuomintang (now in exile at Hongkong), express- ing sympathy for Chang Fa-Kwel; it is signed by no end of generals, headed by the redoubtable Tang Sheng-Chin, the same who of late debellafed the Kuomintang; pursuit of the Kuomin- chun ceases (for apparently the report of an armistice as incorrect); those heroes halt in their tracks, poise for the return spring. The defenders of Canton il; Chang Fa-Kwel and his “Ironsides” ¢lose in on the city. So much was presented as fact by the dispatches of only a few days back. They added that it was rumored that Chang Kai-Shek had resigned, that Yen Hsi-Shan had superseded him as gen- eralissimo, and some other as civil head. ‘The natural reflection of one made wise by experience of dispatches from China was that it might all be as thus af- firmed or rumored, or the major part or only a minor part. One did well to suspend belief. The latest dispatches indicate that Chang Kai-Shek is having the better of it; Chang Fa-Kwei hurled back in bloody rout from the environs of Canton; a “check” administered to the mutineers up the Tientsinpukow Railroad; Tang Sheng-Chih, in open rebellion, advanc- ing confidently upon Wuhan, held. An- other kaleidoscopic shift of the Celes- tial scene. * ok ok % UNITED STATES.—On December 6 the Senate, 58 to 22, voted to unseat Willlam 8. Vare. We await the fate of the tariff bill in the Senate at the hands of the majority coalition of Democrats and insurgent Republicans. On December 5 a joint resolution call- ing for reduction of tax rates as per the recommendations by the President and the Secretary of the Treasury was passed by the House, 282 to 172. Patrick J. Hurley, Assistant Secretary of War, has been appointed Secretary of War in succession to the late Mr. Glancing at the numerous commis- sions or committees recommended in the President’s message to Congress, Repre- sentative Garner of Texas, Democratic floor leader, opines that “a commission form of government seems in contem- plation.” From the Secretary of the Treasury's annual report, issued Decem- ber 4, 1 extract the following items of | special interest: Corporation earnings of the calendar year 1928 exceeded those of 1927 by about 11 per cent, and “all reports indi cate that the 1929 income of corpor: tions will exceed that of 1928." Automobile production of the fiscal year ended June 30, 1929, set a new high record with an increase of about 53 per cent. This was reflected in the demand for steel, which increased 22 per cent, though “the demand for steel in other lblfles did not parallel that for automo- es." Freight car loadings in the fiscal year 1929 exceeded those of the preceding fiscal year by 4.3 per cent. The foreign trade of the fiscal year 1929 aggregated about $10,000,000,000. “Exports totaled 5.4 billions and gen- eral imports 4.3 billions. This was an increase of 10.2 per cent in exports and 3.5 per cent in imports over the pre- ceding fiscal year.” The gross income of agriculture of the fiscal year was $12,500,000,000, as against $12,300,000,- 000 for the preceding fiscal year. Mr. Mellon points out delightfully how the first regular Treasury account- ing was given in 1801 by Albert Gallatin, and how Mr. Gallatin estimated that for the ensuing year the revenues would amount to $10,500,000, of which, said e, 500,000 would be required for ordinary expenses of the Government refuse, cut eammunications. Worse| and the remainder could be applied in he is mapping the vastness of space. J. Woolf. spaces between the constellations Virgo and Coma Berenices. Twenty-five years ago no responsible astronomer dreamed of such stellar dis- tances as existing, much less as meas- urable. Even 15 years ago it -was seriously doubted if light could travel a million years without complete extinc- tion. But the day I was at Harvard a telegram came from Mount Wilson an- nouncing the discovery of three bodies photographed with the 100-inch reflec- tor there at an estimated distance of 50,000,000 light years. A 200-inch tele- scope is now being planned to have an payment of interest and principal of the public debt. The big items of appropriation of the new budget are as follows: For the Veterans' Bureau, $589,755,000; for the Navy Department, $380,392.526; for the War Department, $466,626,332; for the reduction of the principal of the public debt, $635,324,000. ‘On_December 5 martial law was de- clared by Brig. Gen. John H. Russell, our high commissioner in Haiti, at Port au Prince and Cape Haitien, in view of disorders incident to student and Iabor unrest. On the 7th, 500 Marines were em- barked at Norfolk for Haiti to reinforce our small force of 700 Marines there, and a cruiser was dispatched to Haiti from Galveston. The same day news arrived of an at- tack on a Marine patrol in the out- skirts of the City of Aux Cayes by a band of 1,500 Haitians from the interior, in which 5 Haitians were killed and 20 wounded and 1 Marine was wounded. ‘The attackers had no fire-arms, but were armed with clubs, machetes and stones. It would seem that the 20 Marines made every effort to avold firing, but were at last constrained to do so. On the same day, again, the President sent a special message to Congress on the Haitian situation. It will be re- called that in his annual message of December 3 the President stated that he would ask Congress to assent to dispatch by him of a special commis- slon to Haltl to explore the obscure situation with a view to a more definite policy than our present one. He now requested Congress to authorize the im- meghu dispatch of such a commission an urpose, It would appear that the trouble be- |8an with a silly threat at an agricul- | tural school; that other schools struck | sympathetiéally, and that agitators of | the familiar bouquet took advantage of the powwow to foment disturbances throughout the country against the ad- ministration. ‘There are said to be about 300 Amer- ican civilians in Haitl. There is a na- tive constabulary of about 2,000, of- ficered by Americans. On December 9, by direction of Pres- ident Hoover, our diplomatic representa- tives at Bern signed on behalf of our nent Court of International Justice. It | remains for our Senate to ratify. On December 12 the House, 239 to 100, ratified the plan for funding the debt of the French to our Government already ratified by the French Parlia- ment. Dr. Isidore S. Falk, professor of bacteriology at the University of Chi- cago, announces that he has isolated the germ of iInfluenza. * kK % THE LEMMINGS ARE COMING— The Lemmings are massing in the mountains of Norway, Sweden and Lap- land for another migration; in effect, mass suicide. Suddenly they will move toward the sea, slowly, usually by night, practically in a straight line, across rivers and lakes, for the sea. They are incredibly fecund; when the subsistence | level reaches a certain depth, off they | go. Strange enough, but perhaps still | more strange is the fact that the other | animals of the region through which the trek is to be made are anticipa or what fantastic rvice of informa- tion?" Anyway, certain it is that the hawks, bears, wolves, foxes, weasels. etc—will be on hand to waylay the line of march. Despite the hideous slaughter, & numerous remnant at last reach their goal and unhesitatingly plunge into the waves. A little strug- gling, a little wriggling of weary limbs. and the planet is rid of some millions of life units it cannot feed. Perhaps to appropriate $50,000 for the | Government the statues of the Perma- | tively aware thereof. By what instinct | natural enemies of the Lemmings—the | t Stretches of Space Are Measured Looking teward the center of our own system in the Milky Way. approximate range of 400,000,000 light years, and some astronomers are hope- | ful that eventually we may achieve in- struments capable of revealing stars at the outermost limit of space. One of the pioneers, and today the outstanding leader, in this vast con- ception and in the methods of attaining and confirming it, is this young director of America’s oldest research observa- | tory, Dr. Harlow Shapley. Chooses Special Field. Born in Missouri in 1885, Shapley at- tended the University of Missouri, from which he was graduated in 1910, an? then went to Princeton for graduate study. In college he had become en- amored of astronomy, that queen of the sclences, Now, in Princeton he made it his main study under the lnmlflnr guidance of Prof. Henry Norris Russell, choosing as his special field for re- search a group of 90 uliar stars known as eclipsing bini . They are so called because under the telescope each star is found to be really a system of two stars revolving around their com- mon center of gravity. The revolution causes a periodic eclipse as one passes between its companion star and the earth. Very little was known about these 90, and it was particularly de- sired to know how far off they were. Their very peculiarities gave the clew. By observing the periods of eclipse Shapley was able to work out orbits for each of the binaries. From the orbits d observed velocities of revolution he arrived by the law of gravitation at the masses of the stars and, knowing the masses, he was able to rate their real brightness, Then the problem was solved, for light dims with distances, ac- cording to a fixed law. Its diminution is always as the square of the distance. Knowing the real magnitude of each binary from his determination of masses and knowing the apparent magnitude from its measurement of its light as received through the telescope, the astronomer computed the distance. “I was surprised to find them so re- mote,” he told me. “The average dis- tance was 10,000 light years. At that time it was generally believed that the radius of the Milky Way was not over 5,000 light years, yet here were Milky ‘Way stars double that. This discovery excited my curiosity about indirect methods of determining distances.” That was the beginning of a thrilling quest through space that has continued for 16 years, and with the most as- tounding results. In 1914 Shapley went from Princeton to the Mount Wilson Observatory in California, where he had use of the largest telescopes in the world. Here he followed his insatiable curiosity into the (Continted on Fifth Page) " The Story the Week Has Told in nd other of her manifestations (not even as regards the bees) does nature ap) so “bloody in tooth and claw.” Life is still worthwhile; some mysteries remain: The economy of the hive; the migration of the Lemmings; the com- mon cold; the mind of woman. NOTES—On December 4 the British House of Lords voted, 43 to 21, disap- proval of the government’s resumption of diplomatic relations with Russia without adequate guarantees relating to propaganda and debts. This vote, however, was comparatively innocuous to_the government. The Autumn salon at Paris is de- clared to be sober, dull and unoriginal. Apparently the Spanish National As- sembly is to reassemble in January for discussion of the draft of the proposed new Spanish constitution. On December 5 the King and Queen of Italy, with a numerous and resplen- dent_retinue, called on the Pope at the Vatican. It was the first visit to the Vatican of a sovereign of united Italy. The spectators of the cavalcade numbered, °tis said, half a million people. The royal pair were received with the utmost graciousness and mag- nificent gifts were exchanged. Admiral Paul Kondouriotis has re- signed President of Greece, owing to old age and poor health. Poland is having a long cabinet crisis. On December 6 the Aga Khan, one of the most important figures in the world of Islam, was married at Aix-le- Bains, France, to Mlle. Andree Carrow, a French girl of humble origin and antecedents. Two Imaums from the Mosque of Paris were witnesses for the Aga, the ceremony being performed by the mayor. The Hague conference on the Young plan is to reconvene on January 3. Oslo Theater to Rival Finest in All Europe A theater rivaling the finest in Europe both as to elegance and scenic equipment, but with cheap cinema prices is the scheme projected for Oslo. A semi-official undertaking, the People'’s Theater, has purchased a central site on which to erect an imposing build- ing. Embodying a cinema seating 1,000 persons, besides shops and offices, the building will derive revenue sufficient to qover all expenses entailed in man- agement of the theater. The People's Theater, collecting subscriptions for several years, now has a sum that will allow a surplus after the building has been finished. Tickets for any seat will cost the same, with no reservations. An organization affiliated with the the- ater enterprise is charged with guar- anteeing patronage. This organization numbers 45,000 members, chiefly work- men, and pledges a full house for a certain number of pla; . Autos Given Blessing To Prevent Accidents A ncvel method of decreasing the number of automobile accidents in Flore.pce Wwas recently inaugurated in the “world’s most charming city” on the occasion of the Feast of San Min- iato, first Florentine martyr. On this day both public and private autos of the city paraded before the holy gates while a large number of priests blessed them “in order that the lives of those who drive, of those who travel in them, and of pedestrians be protected and defended from danger.” After the presi- dent of the Institute of San Francesca for Motor Car Safety had made a ) h to the owners and drivers of e cars, pontifical high mass was cele- ! | brated in the Church of San Miniato. 4 Adds to Complex. NEW viewpoint on Russia is pre- sented in the December issue of “International Conciliation,” published by the Carnegie En: dowment for International Peace. Prof. Paul Monroe, director of the International Institute, Columbia University, in his article explains the cultural and social pattern of Soviet Russia in the present day. Excerpts from his article follw: “To generalize about Russia or condi- tions in Russia seems quite unwise. Yet this article, which is largely an aceount of recent direct observations, assumes three generalizaitons as valid and basic. These generalizations are not formulated a priori, but evolve from observation, comparison with previous contact, an from the testimony of other witnesses. “The first of these is that the revolu~ tion in Russia is a complex, not a sim- ple phenomenon, and involves a social as well as a political and an economic revolution. The second is that while it may be true that the political revolu- tion occurred in 1917, the social and economic revolutions are yet in process. ‘The third is that the three revolutions are intertwined in a very complex man- ner, but that the social or cultural revo- lution may have values quite independ- ent of the political and economic revo- lutions or of the theories, policies or experiments involved in thes Part of General Plan. “This brief account relates almost ex- clusively to the cultural aspect of the social revolution, the principles from which it springs and the concrete pro- gram which it involves. “The cultural program is not an iso- lated program, but is vitally connected with the entire social and political pro- gram. It is well thought out and artic- ulated, a single institution but a part of a comprehensive general plan, substan- tiated by general theory, scientific, ped- agogical and social. Such institutions should be considered as experiments. “The difference between social ex- perimentation and experimentation in the fleld of natural sciences should be borne in mind. In the latter fleld a negative instance may disprove a hy- pothesis while in the former a itive instance may establish a hypothesis. “In the social field the major question is, will the theory work? If it works in one instance, or in several instances, there is no reason, except that of con- trollable conditions, why it should not work in others. Furthermore, no one in Russia claims that the remarkable achievements in some cases are indica- tive of general much less universal con- ditions. All concerned are fully aware that the present situation is one of transition, and that the realization of any phase of the social or cultural pro- gram is only a beginning, only a demonstration. Program That of Revolutionists. “Quantitative estimates of the scope and influence of the present program are obviously beyond the reach of cacual or brief observations. Quantitative statements in so large a territory and 50 fluid a population, whether made by those responsible for the system or by observers, friendly, unfriendly or neutral, just as obviously of very limited, if any, reliability, or ificance. “One further consideration which is seldom noted or even realized outside of Russia should be remarked. Not only is the theory upon which the novel cultural experiments are based well thought out in every respect, but these theorles are largely, and the practices even more largely, the formulation of men who labored under the old regime for the betterment of the educational and cultural conditions of the masses of . the Russian people and who were among the Intellectual revolutionists. Many of them labored for a generation under the old regime for such improve- ment, only to find every effort thwarted by the harshest of measures, and for reasons which seem now quite irrational. Not a Paper Scheme. “The cultural program of Soviet Rus- sia is quite unlike that of any country of the Western world in one funda- mental respect—it is not worked out | as is the program in any one of thess countries by piecemeal through the accretion of isolated parts. It is & unified whole growing out of a general theory of philosophy. N “This philosophy has a_foundation in scientific and pedagogical thought and experimentation, as well as in a_social theory and political program. The main point of significance in answering the charge that foreign visitors are ‘shown’ is that the program is not a paper one, but one vital, vigorous and thoroughly interwoven with the interests and life of the people. “No people has given as much atten- tion to the use of various social insti- tutions for educational ends. In prin- ciple every such institution should be organized. Many of them are 50 organ- ized, especially in the cities. Museum, theater, opera, playground, business, office, shop, factory, the garden, the farm, the office of any professional man or shop laborer, the activities of the home of the &loneer or-Boy Scout, all are used to this end. “Naturally, this is not done in all places, nor are all of such influences brought to bear on a single child, much less on every child. But enough is done in a center like Moscow to make a re- markable contribution and a remark- able impression upon the observer. ‘Museums Systematically Used. “The most systematically and the most. frequently used of all such insti- tutions is the museum. Moscow is said to possess more than 100 museums. Each smaller city visited had sever: It was a very poorly equipped school that did not possess one. “The interest in and enthusiasm for these museums is unbounded. Within an hour after our arrival at Moscow our little party, under the guidance of some of the cultural leaders, was visit- ing one of these museums, which hap- pened to be the leading art museum, chief also under the old regime. This I had visited previous to the war. “The contrast was striking. Then an art museum for the elect, it was devoted chiefly to a few modern Russian artist The fundamental theme of all the can- vases was war and the phases of the Oriental life brought by conquest under the Czar. “Now this collection has been ex- pensively supplemented by many of the treasures formerly privately owned, un- til it has become one of the outstanding collections in Europe. The entire pos. sessions of the gallery have been ar- ranged to show the development of Russian art out of the earlier European schools and the influence of these and of later movements on the development of native art. Influenced to Spend, Not Save. “There are art museums, industrial museums, pedagogical museums, science museums, Darwinian or museums of evolution. The most popular of all is the Museum of the Revolution, thronged constantly by old and young. “Besides the museums there are many other institutions that ;have a special function in the general educational pla: ‘The theory, however, is that every institution of the complex social structure has an educational function in the nurture of the individual." Con- spicuous among these is the theater, the ra, the ballet. These are at- ten: by all classes, naturally most of the audience being factory workers. “While special concessions and prices are made to children and factory work- ers on certain days, the prices are not cheap. Considering the cost of living and the standard of living, the cost is high. But here one of the leading eco- nomic doctrines impinges on the edu- cational. Economically no stress is placed on savin GOES ON AMONG RUSSIANS Phenomenon That Began With Political and Economic Changes Dating From 1917. fluenced to spend all of their wages or income as it comes in. “With old age and sickness cared for by the state, with .the commune tak- ing over much of the ibility of the family, the worker only has to con- sider the needs and the enjoyment of the day. To perfect the psychology of communism, as well as to assist in the conservation of its practice, the nega- tion of the attitude toward thrift and saving and accumulation of capitalistic soclety is essential. Propaganda Justified. “Propaganda is limited to that of commuistic or Soviet Russian interests. That these ganda interests so | d | often involve a hostility to everything foreign is perhaps incidental. But that constant misrepresentation of foreign peoples and conditions, misinterpreta- tion of current events and cultivation of enmity to foreign peoples is, in my judgment, the one great blot on Rus- sian education. “Naturally, the Russian educator jus- tifies this situation by the retort that these are no worse ti similar tudes of Western education toward Russia. There is some justification for the statement. No one position held by the Communist leaders is clearer than this of the interdependence of politics and education, of the school and the government. “The Russian leaders and officials in general are free to admit that their plans for the betterment of the masses and the establishment of their ideas in general can be but partly realized at best in the present generation. Conse- quently they place the greatest em- phasis on the importance of education of the young and the saturation of that education with the Communist ideas. Anti-Religious War Carried On. “A recent book on education in Soviet Russia by a_competent and unbiased observer of Russian conditions makes the statement that nowhere did the author see any propaganda against re- ligion. My own observation was that no phase of education was more promi- nent or more widely diffused than that against religion “The churches that have been. sup- pressed and used for museums, centers for the Y. M. C. A. (Young Men's Com- munistic Association), theaters or other public purposes. are for the most part the former military churches, and yet are frequently used by the soldiery for the above-mentioned purposes. “It is even reported on reliable au- thority that there are great reli movements among the " people t! selves. Certainly at Easter time the churches were greatly used and there was evidence of wide observance of old Easter customs. “The anti-religious propagands is carried on by poster, by dramatic pres- entation, by direct instruction in sci s and in other organizations, by public address and all forms of public propa- ganda. Emphasis Placed on Group. = . “One other phase of method ig of significance, namely, the group. The word Soviet its:lf means council and grew out of the workers’ strike councils in the factories in the revolution of 1905. No word is more generally used than ‘group.’ Consequently the chil- dren study in groups, more or less for- ‘mal, and carry on their socially useful work in groups. ' “The emphasis on individuality, ini- tiative, self-assertion, self-reliance, so prominent in American school work, is replaced in Russia by the emphasis on “tl p.' The Russian educator is keenly alive to the excellencies of Ameri- can education, and -has borrowed many of his ideas, or the suggestion of them, from American history and American schools, but he is setting them to dif- ferent ends. “In this dependence upon and em- phasis upon the group lies much of the communism of the Russian educa- tion. At least herein lies a vital bond between formal education and the com- munistic system in social organization. “One other fundamental principle of Russian education remains to be men- tioned. Since all social institutions have an educative function, and since nurture or the development of inherent capacities and interests may go on through life, and also since great masses of the Russian people have hitherto been denied all cultural opportunities, the education program should be di- rected to all the people. It is only the process of instruction that is restricted to the school and applies to the youth. Repression Admitted. “It may be said, without contradiction, I think, that in no other country has there been such a widespread and de- termined effort to bring all of the peo- ple under the influence of an educational program. * “This report is one of personal ob- servation on the Russian culture pro- gram. My observations in this and previous visits had no interest in the tical stuation. Undoubtedly, some pression of political conditions was gained indirectly.” One was that people talked, if at all, with reluctance and reservation on political questions. Free- dom of speech or of the press cannot be sald to exist. Repression, tz;lnny. was admitted, The rule of the recret police was in force, as in the old regime. “‘One definite impression was that the present political regime was in no dan- ger of overthrow from within, and that any attempt from without would onty strengthen it. The one danger was » split within the party itself. Program Only Year Oid. - “In forming any judgment, it is well to keep in mind that the ‘five-year pru- m' is only one year under way. Neither initial success nor initial fail- urrumly be indicative of permanent re- sults. “Many of these economic enterprises, as well as much of the welfare ana contentment of the people, depend on assistance from the outside world.: The chief form of assistance that was most obvious and about which the people talked the most was that received or anticipated from the great American capitalistic concerns. Chief among these are the General Electric, the Harvester, the Ford Motor Works, the United States Steel and the ofl com- panies. “It is not the approval of & few American radicals or the interest of a few American professors that is ing the Communists economic t- ance in the time of dire need, but the great capitalists, even those that have lost heavily in the past.” Bobbed Hair Fashion Thousand Years Ago It has been definitely proved: Bobbed hair was the fashion over a thousand years ago. It cannot be claimed “hat it conquered the entire worig at that time, but we know absolutely that the ancient Vikings, the robbers and sea- farers of old, knew the style. This as- tounding fact, together with many others of perhaps less interest but even greater scientific importance, has been established through the discovery mear ‘Tilsit, East Prussia, of a huge Viking burial place, dating from ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries. The finds are unusually rich. 'h man’s ve contains three or four iron & a8 many as a dozen lanceheads, bronzs belt les, stirrups and snaffies. In the en’s graves jewelry of all kinds was found, bronze bracelets. rings, mneck- laces, all beautifully wrought. A young woman with bobbed hair was found -in The people are in- | one of these graves, with “zippers” in place of buttons or plnlw:oln:m garments, s