Evening Star Newspaper, December 20, 1929, Page 8

8 THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1929. THE EVENING STAR . With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. FRIDAY. THEODORE W. NOYES., ...Editor [health is constantly improving, due to ‘The Evening Star Nt per Company ey P e beyivanta_Ave e Eenbevivanta_Ave, New York Office. 110 East 42nd Chicago Office: Lake Michigan Building. Eiropean Ofice; 14 Regent St.. London. Enkland. the City. 45c Ler month ar .. . .60c per month r ‘65¢ per month The Sunday Star ... +....3C per copy Collection made at t of each month. Orders may be sent in by mail or telephone NAtional 5000. Maryl afly and Sul ally only . unday only . Dafly and Sunday..l Daily only - 1 Bunday only Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news cis- patches credited to it or not otherwise cred- tted in this paper and also he local news published herem. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. i i e s A Cautious Statement. Japan's naval delegates ‘have left Washington and by tonight will have departed from the United States en route to the naval conference in Lon- don. The “joint statement” prepared by them and the State Department at the conclusion of conversations in ‘Washington is conspicuous for what x(' does not say. It is an almost perfect specimen of that “speech” which, as a cynic Frenchman has said, “men em- ploy only to conceal their thoughts.” But so far as it goes it is to the good. It is plain that both parties feel that negotiations for the present can be bet- ter conducted in camera, as the law- yers say. In words obviously chosen with meticulous care and bearing all the ear- marks of protocol experts, we are told that the Stimson-Adams-Wakatsuki- Takarabe “discussion” kept off the grass of “detalls” and “figures.” It was concerned rather with “the general philosophy . underlying naval agree- ments and the opportunities of the coming conference.” The one concrete and definite observation in this master- piece of diplomatic diction is the an- nouncement that “agreement in the objectives of both countries was estab- lished.” 1t is not difficult to guess what tHose objectives are, even though they are left unmentioned in the Japanese- American joint statement. Like the United States, Japan seeks not only limitation, but genuine reduction, of naval armament. Like ourselves, the Japanese see in prolonged competition in warship-building the seeds of endur- ing international conflict. Like Amer- icans, the people of Nippon look upon the Kellogg-Briand pact as a thing of substance and not as a scrap of paper. Like the republic of the West, the em- pire of the East earnestly craves suc- cess for the forthcoming five-power conclave at London. ‘These are the “objectives,” and the “general philosophy” underlying them, upon which the American and Jap- anese minds are now met. Quite prop- erly, the Washington joint statement notes, it is for the conference itself to thrash out and work out the specific and complex problems which will con- front it, especially those of a naval- technical character. But with accord assured on the broad, fundamental is- sues involved, a long step has been taken in the direction of their solution. Seamanship and statesmanship joint- 1y will be on trial in England next month, Their opportunities and re- sponsibilities are interlocking. Even he- tween the lines of the cautious Jap- anese-American communique of yester- day, there are hopeful signs that the sailors and the statesmen will pool their wisdom on the Thames to good purpose. Meritorious Conduct. ‘The Star joins with Maj. Henry G. Pratt in commending the work of Policeman Earl D. Alber, who, single- handed, broke up an attempt to rob a grocery store and arrested the cracks- men. While patrolling his beat the other night Alber noticed that a light usually left burning in the store was out. Upon investigation he discovered that two men were attempting to open the safe and, as Chief Pratt says in his special order, “the apprehension of these men was the result of keen observation, fearlessness, initiative and energy on the part of the officer,” who captured them only after a chase. With so much unmerited criticism of the Police Department being heard at the present time, it is refreshing to the people of this community to learn that meritorious work is being performed and recognized. Pvt. Alber deserves the utmost credit not only for the efficient performance of his duty but in assuring Washingtonians that their property is being well and faithfully protected. —_———————— Dead men tell no tales, but the romancers who choose a homicide mystery as a topic proceed to speak for them in volumes of narration. —_——e— Social Trends. “Social trends” of modern life, par- ticularly modern American life, are to be the subject of a scientific and in- tensive survey, made by a commission selected by President Hoover and fi- nanced by the Rockefeller Foundation. In announcing the appointment of the commission, which includes leaders in the field of the study of sociology, the President indicated that the survey would require two or three years to complete. The conditions under which Ameri- cans of today live are so different from the conditions of a hundred, fifty or even twenty-five years ago that a sclen- tific investigation of the effects on the people of these changes and the trend of life due to the changes should be of real value: There have been predic- tions that family life, as it was known half a century ago, will not be able to survive under these changed conditions. It has become fashionable to wonder where the country and the peopls are headed. If the survey mow prcposed can answer this questicn or even give .December 20, 1920 | the “problems arising from increased . dren, too, are living at a faster gait %40 | the flowing streams. The exercise that House statement announcing the ap- | Pennsylvania avenue and Fifteenth pointment of the commission, is “the | street, immediately north of the new effect of urban life upon mental and physical health.” Another is found in leisure.” It has been the boast that the spread of ‘information to the people and to the development of the science of preventive medicine. Undoubtedly the boast is founded on fact. But this improvement in health must be main- tained, if possible, in the face of con- ditions which admittedly become more and more nerve-wracking. The well- being of the nervous system of the men and women of today is a matter of tremendous importance to the health of the country. It has become trite to say that the men of today, and the women and chil- than did their immediate progenitors. Power is no longer derived from the muscle of man, but from the waters of is needed for a healthful body is ob- tained no longer as part of the occupa- tion and work of millions of men and women, but only at times of recreation. Men and women have more leisure to- day because of the speeding up of work through the use of machinery. There has been a great change in the home life of the people because of the change in the tasks about the home. The commission just appointed is not expected to point out remedies for all the ills that arise in modern life. It will have been of service, however, if it can point out the direction and the probable end toward which certain phases of modern life are driving the people. Once the trends of modern life have been established with a degree of scientific accuracy it will be an easler task to find remedies, if they are nec- essary. The Missing Plans Mystery. The rather acrimonious dispute over delay in preparing plans for the pro- posed Alice Deal Junior High School at Fort Reno might ordinarily be dismissed as a tempest in a teapot, because the land needed for the site is still in the process of condemnation, and the jury's report is not expected before the first of the year, It will be generally admit- ted that the school cannot be built be- fore the land is bought. But the controversy over this delay seems to have become symbolic. It has received added importance because of & letter from Col. U. S. Grant, 3d, who states in no uncertain terms that “many of the municipal employes un- der the District Commissioners feel con- siderable hostility toward the National Capital Park and Planning Commission and are doubtless ready at any time to attribute shortcomings to it. * * ¢ In fact, some of the hostility felt toward the commission, as well as toward the Office of Public Buildings and Parks, may doubtless be traced to the fact, that we have pushed them in regard to many matters that have reached them.” Col. Grant, having made these state- ments, will doubtless be willing to am- plify them specifically if the need arises, and Representative Simmons, who has shown commendable zeal in getting at the bottom of any inexcusable delays that may have occurred in the administration of school appropriations, will not let the matter rest where it now stands. For it rests in the air. To begin with, the municipal architect, Mr. Harris, wrote to Mr. Simmons some time ago mentloning as a reason for delay in preparing the school plans the fact that “the Park and Planning Commission are making & comprehensive study of the Fort drive, which will determine the grades of the various streets. This study has not been approved by the District Commissioners up to the pres- ent time, but will receive consideration when completed.” This letter led Col. Grant to write to Mr. Simmons, informing him that the Park and Planning Commission gave the municipal architect the plans, through the Engineer Commissioner, as long ago as February, 1928. In this letter he made his charges regard- ing the hostility of municipal employes and their readiness to shift the blame. But an inquiring Star reporter dis- covers that after the Park and Plan- ning Commission plans were delivered to the Engineer Commissioner they were sent back to the Park and Plan- ning Commission, with certain sug- gested alterations, and that the altera- tions were discussed st length in the March meeting of the commission. What developed from this discussion remains in doubt. The files at the District Building contain no record of final approval of the plans. There have béen no public hearings on the pro- posed highway changes. It ‘would ap- pear that Mr. Harris is right when he refers to the incomplete status of the plans, and there is considerable con- jecture, of course, as to the “municipal employes under the District Commus- sioners,” who in this case attributed any shortcomings to the Park and Planning Commission. As the approval of the plans 18 necessary before the plans for the hign school can be completed, it is to be hoped that, having pursued the mys- tery of their whereabouts and status thus far, the searchers for facts will corner them, collar them, have them approved and seek from them & fun revelation of their whereabouts since March, 1828. r—os Thanks to the airplane, the world, so far as communication is concerned, “grows smaller.” But the fares ‘de- manded for travel show no correspond- ing decrease. —e—s A Pennsylvania Souvenir. There is no reason to doubt favorable action by Congress upon the proposal to provide a site in this city for & monumental fountain, to be given to the National Capital by the citizens of the State of Pennsylvania. At & hear- ing just held before the House commit- tee on the Library the project was out- lined and evidence was given that the plan has the approval of the commis- sions that are working out schemes for the equipment of the Government with its needful buildings and for the de- velopment of the parks of the Capital. Department of Commerce, soon to be completed. Of these theiformer appears to be the more definitel¥ favored. ‘This proposed gift of the State of Pennsylvania suggests that other States may be disposed, through this example, to provide souvenirs at the Capital in attestation of their community of own- ership or partnership in the Federal city. This idea of State tokens was carried out in the erection of the Wash- ington Monument, tablets of the com- monwealths being set into the inner walls of that shaft. From time to time for a number of years past plans have been proposed for the location here of State buildings, forming a veritable na- tional exposition. There is already a gallery of statues of representatives of the States in the old Hall of Repre- sentatives in the Capitol. A series of artistic memorials or monumental sou- venirs out of doors would be a decidedly appropriate method of identifying the States with the National Capital, This present proposal brings afresh to the public mind the fact that the plans for building and park develop- ment of the Capital are in definite course of execution and that completion in the near future is now assured. This means the fulfillment of a vision of long entertainment, the early realization of the dream of many years. R A Fortunate Catch. In the midst of so much crime, pour- ing into the public eye and ear from all points of the country, it is interesting to read of a happening which turned out exactly as every one would have it turn out. A mother at Rockford, Ill, threw her month-old infant from a second story window when the family home caught on fire. Mothers will do such things in moments of extreme fright. A man passing made a perfect catch. ‘The baby landed snugly in his arms, as he instinctively raised them at the mother’s scream. Perhaps there is no man living who has not dreamed of performing some such service as that, but few have been permitted to see their dreams come true. Robert Sherwood, for such was his name, is a fortunate man, not only in being Bobbie-on-the-spot, but in hold- ing his catch after it landed. ————— Evolutionists frequently discover a so- called “missing link.” Practical econo- mists subordinate controversy to the hope that.man will start from here and steadily improve. —— e Even gangsters and racketeers stand by and salute respectfully when old friend Santa Claus decides to bring out his sleigh and efface small human re- sentments by taking them for a ride. ————.—— Millions are expected to be available for a big opera house. The spirit of educational liberality should easily go beyond music and extend itself to the idea of bigger and better school houses. gl i To be quick at figures is a com- mendation to a man in commercial employment unless he goes too far and tries to be “slick at figures” o ‘When Mayor Jimmy Walker wants a raise in salary, he renders his applica- tion more appealing by making it read “for self and friends.” Soviets and Chinese are precipitate. Their impetuosity tends to spofl their opportunities for a parley of great possibilites. e ‘Weather signals indicate that Comdr. Byrd is no longer to hold a monopoly of the cold wave news. o “SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Procrastination. I'll go a-shopping early And shun the crowd’s distress— THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. “Books are apt to turn reason out of doors,” sald Emerson in one of his journals. “You find men talking every- where from their memories instead of from their understanding. “If I stole this thbught from Mon- taigne, as is very likely, I don’t care” he adds with sly humor. “I should have said the same myself.” If he could think so in his day, how much more_ likely is it today that any one who believes in the integrity of the human mind should have a like thought upon occasion! This is a matter which belongs not to the everyday but to those rare occa- sions when one happens to think along just such lines. Perhaps a stray idea at random ut- tered by some friend will put one in mind of it. It is apparent that the man is speaking from the book, not from his own mind. He really does not think what he thinks, but only says ‘what some one eise has thought. Today the emphasis has been placed in education on the acquisition of facts rather than upon original thinking or that honesty of thought which is men- tal integrity. The “bright” child is the little one with the best memory. There are thousands of boys and girls who rank in the schools as highly intelligent who in reality have but one mental posses- sion—that of an exceedingly good memory. * ok ok ok A layman's division of thought might be into the following: (1) Facts, (2) Originality, and (3) Honesty. For every 98 persons who shine in the first_division there will be but one who The time grows short, I must report— Today is one day less. I'll go a-shopping early * And sing the old refrain, Each day so bright. ‘That takes its flight Is one day less again. I'll go a-shopping early, As Christmas eve draws nigh. ‘The hours grow few; My best I'll do, For I can only try. Two Sides. “I know of men who drink wet and vote dry,” said Senator Sorghum. “Well,” responded Mr. Yessingwell, “there are two sides to every question.” “True; especially the prohibition question.” Jud Tunkins says the farmer wants relief, but so do some of the boys who followed the stock ticker instead of the plow. Real Loss. T'll smile, though fortune fades away. For gold I can contend. But sad the day when I must say That I have lost a friend. Yearn for Novelty. “I'm afraid the book you are read- ing isn't proper.” “I'm sorry,” sald Miss Cayenne. “I yearn for novelty. I wanted something decent for a change. “Age speaks words of wisdom,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown—"but, as in previous generations, it is youth that sets the fashions.” Pleasant Priority. The Christmas Carol comes once ‘more To minds contented. I'm glad they found the tunes before Jazz was invented! “De monopolist,” said Uncie Eben, “is a man dat cleans out all his brethren in a crap game an’ den says ‘Merry Christmas!’ " . —o— excels in the second and maybe one in the third. Perhaps it would be nearer to the truth to say that there might be one in the second but none in the third. 1. might be nearer to the truth to say for every 998 persons who have good memories there may be found one who is an original thinker and another who respects the integrity of his own thought. The harm from books comes mostly to the third and smallest class— those who might otherwise be honest with themselves. Intellectual honesty, it must be kept in mind, is not the same as honesty in money matters. The latter often is an inherited tendency, but the former is as near to the soul of a man as one may get in this world. . The sad thing is that thousands of men_never once realize that they are not honest in their thoughts, not even with themselves, or in the secret places of their own hearts. ‘They fool themselves at every turn, dishing up old out-worn ideas which have done duty for so many centuries that there is intellectual moss on them. They think they are thinkipg, but all lh:z time they are only repeating by rote. Mankind'’s ideas of law, for instance, have moved scarcely & jot. The problem of crime and punishment has stood still. If George Washington came back today, he would find nothing new in these matters; Jullus Caesar would dis- cover our prison riots perfectly compre- hensible. There would be nothing about them he would not understand, but he would not know why an electric light lights, or an automobile runs, or a radio sends forth music. * K kX Even the man who realizes that most often his thoughts belong to somebody else, maybe gone centuries ago, finds it a most difficult matter to think in any other way. He has given up trying to be original, owing to a constitutional lack, combined with a certain sense of humor, which makes him admit what the more jeal- ous and covetous members of the hu- man kind will stubbornly refuse to agree to, although the truth may be as plain as the noses on their ugly faces. He cannot be very original in thought (he admits it), but he hopes to be honest with himself. This does not mean that he must say things which offend others or threaten to overturn the Government. Here again his sense of humor stands him in good stead. All that he wants to do is to think what he thinks! And if any one be- lieves this to be easy, let him make careful note of the random thoughts of friends and acquaintances for so little as one day. He will hear every last one of them say things which he knows they do not belie. ~. and which he knows they know they do not believe, and which they yet expect him to swallow without comment, knowing full well that he will not dare say a word in reply. To our theoretically honest-minded man this is the greatest and at the same time the saddest joke in the whole world, material, mental, spiritual. To be there in command of his precious mind, the instrument with which he grasps life, if he grasps it at all, and yet not to be able to use it in the way he knows he ought to use it, what fate can be worse than that? And, again, let it be stated that this man often does not realize what is the | in matter with him. He goes right ahead repeating old thought as his own, se- cured maybe out of books, when what he should do is to cut loose and say what he thinks, let the chips fall where they may. e E One never realizes the difficulty of honest thought until he confronts him- self with pen and paper, on which he is expected to write. After he has de- cided what to write, there comes the problem of what to say. Immediately there crowd forward thoughts, but with them comes a host of n beings. too; for there really aré no original thoughts, but only different phrasings of old ideas—different placements of accents, as it were. Behind these old-new thoughts stand great shades and little shades. In their hands they hold flowers or weapons, and on their faces are smiles or frowns. And as the writer possesses in himself good qualities or bad qualities, decency of heart or hardness of heart, so will he find himself responding to these shades of thought. Almost unknown to himself, he will modify a thought, because not for the world would he hurt the sensibflities of some one who may never read what BY L. DU GARDE PEACH. Prom the Landmark (organ of the English- Speaking Union). I have always thought that one of the most extraordinary things about Christ- mas is the peculiar effect which it has upon the spelling of the English lan- guage. Heaven knows the spelling of the English language—on whichever side of the Atlantic you happen to be spelling it—is uliar enough at any time, but at Christmas a sort of sea- Isonll rash seems to break out all over it. Quite ordinary words take on an en- tirely unfamiliar look, and the soberest workaday vowels and consonants lose their heads. It isn't serious; by New Year day the worst is over, and the symptoms quickly disappear, but it is a sharp attack whilst it lasts. Of course, it is all the fault of ye le olde tymes. They were so aw- fully goode. There was a bluff hearti- ness about them—human nature was quite different then—and everybody was so honest and so leal. I am not sure that I quite know what leal means, but the Anglo-Saxons were it; in fact, it was one of their most outstanding characteristics. Everybody knows that an Anglo-Saxon who wasn't leal counted for simply nothing; I mean he hadn't a friend or anything, and then where was he? Anyhow, all these virtues of ye goode olde tymes are just the thing for Christmas. They go with wassail- g and boars’ heads—you simply couldn’t look at a boar’s head if you weren’t leal, for one thing—and mulled sack and venison pastie and so on. And that is where the spelling comes in. Because, besides being frightfully {goode and frightfully olde, ye goode olde tymes were, above all, most fright- fully “ye.” You couldn't get away from it. “Ye” was the stamp, the hallmark of the absolutely leal. No self-respect- ing Anglo-Saxon ever said “the.” There is nothing hearty and Merrie England about a word like that. For instance, Hengist meeting Horsa never said, “How's the wife?” No, he would <ay, “How looketh ye goode wyf?” You see the difference? It's—well, it's leal, that's all. And, mind you, Hengist and Horsa wfie %:]s; nb'gut 1as leal : pn‘ilr as you cou ; topping good chaps, Hengist and Horsa were. “Ye goode wyf.” It really is won- derful. You see?—you're thawing al- ready. You simply can't help yourself, youre feeling more jovial and hearty and—why, for two pynnes you'd go a-wassailing with anybody! And, be- lieve me, it is all done simply by that one word, “ye.” At the mere sight of it calm and ordinarily unemotional citi- zens burst into glad carols and fling money to beggars. They do more, they even go into ye shoppe and buy ye blot- he writes! This is but one of thousands| tynge padde and send it to Aunt Mar- of variations. Any one who writes can think of hundreds. Any one who speaks can think of scores. ‘The average “man on the street” who neither writes nor speaks, in the pro- fessional sense, can think of many thoughts uttered which were not ex- actly what he thought in his inner mind, in that tight compartment which every man keeps under lock and key. So we find men everywhere, as Emer- son said, talking from their memories instead of from their understandings. Their very understandings are made up of memories! .Yet even their memory is faulty, so that few men can say to themselves that they are more than an approach to that rational intelligence which every man would like to be and which most pretend that they are. It is a sensible objection which the great Ralph Waldo brings up, if one faces it with the same good humor and understanding with which he jotted it down in his commonplace book. “Books are apt to turn reason out of doors”— if we let them. It is the duty of every book lover to prevent his books from taking the place of original thought, in 80 far as he can. Let them help him to think, as they can, but do not permit them to do all the thinking. Thinking 'x:ma book’s business, but it is a man’s WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. ‘This 1s the presidential-engineering era in North America, all right. When Herbert Hoover greets Pascual Ortiz Rublo, president-elect of Mexico, at dinner in the White House on Decem- ber 27, it will be as a fellow engineer. Mexican-American relations are now happily in a state which will permit Messrs. Hoover and Rubio to discuss them in terms of dams, rather than damns. Senor Rubio is steadily conva- lescing at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, to which he repaired after his recent arrival in this country for some special medical treatment. One of the little courtesies extended to the Mexican ruler-to-be by President Hoo- ver was the dispatch of the latter's private automobile to take Senor Rubio from the station to the hospital in Baltimore. The Mexican authorities ex- pressed a desire that the President- elect should be considered as being in the vicinity of Washington more or less incognito, otherwise more formal and distinguished honors would have been accorded him throughout his so- Journ on our soil. I Joseph B. Eastman of Massachusetts, who has just been renominated as a member of the Interstat¢ Commerce Commission, is regarded by many of the country’s authorities as the best “brain” in the I. C. C. One of Mr. Eastman’s claims to distinction is that he is equally popular with railroad capital and railroad labor. He ranks as a liberal in the field of transportation, having been addicted at one time, if not now, to the idea of State owner- ship of ralroads. President Wilson ap- pointed Eastman to the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1919. He is still a youngster, being only 47 years old. An Amherst man, like Calvin Coolidge, Mr. Eastman began life as a soclal worker in Boston. Later he became counsel for the employes of street rail- way companies in wage arbitration cases. Two Bay State governors— Walsh and MecCall—drafted Eastman for the Massachusetts Public Service Commission, on 'which he was acting when summoned to Washington 10 years ago. One of his weaknesses is to stay up half the nighi at work on a raiiroad problem. T 8 Here's a belated tale from the late unpleasantness which will pass into history as the Virginia 1928 guberna- torfal contest. A gentleman of color applied for inclusion in the registratior lists. The official in charge, who was of another color, asked the Negro to state his occupation. ‘“Chef,” was the reply. “What?” exclaimed the man at the desk. “Chef, chef,” the dark-com- plexioned voter repeated. The official left his lists and went into & huddle with a colleague. It was decided to consult a dictionary. “So you're a cook,” the Negro was told. “That'll be all right. You can register.” w ok %k ‘Thad H. Brown, original Hoover man and manager in Ohio in 1928, has just become chief counsel of the Federal Radio Commission. Report has it that one of these days he may be graduated into a member of the commission, though the salary (410,000) of the chief counsel is as big &S & eommissioner’s pay. It was Mr. Brown who was first authorized to But the Cigars! From the Des Moines Tribune-Capital. The laughs provoked by freakish neckties also help to make it a meriy Christmas. ———ate How Does He Do It? Prom the Canton Daily News. Two sites are suggested, alternatively, for the proposed fountain, which, ac- cording to anticipatory indications, i to be of exceptional size and unusual an inkling of what may be expected in the future, due to the social trends of the day, 1t will have accomplished much. One of the questions which is to be tludied, es indicated in the White \ character. One of these is the axis of the Mall and the central line of the mur'~=~1 center, slightly west of the pres f the Botanfc Garden. The other s we projected park space at Maybe that Cortland, N. Y., man who is 45 years in arrears in his alimony u:’nu still has hopes of a recon- n. Suggestion to Motorists. From the Rochester Times-Union. It's always safer to park alongside a new car. It won’t scrape your fenders as it backs out. announce that Hoover's hat was in the hotly contested Buckeye primary ring, when that circle was supposed to be marked off for the more or less exclusive use of Senator Frank B. Willls. Mr. Brown comes to the Radio Commission from the Federal Power Commission, of which he was general counsel. Once upon a time Brown was Secretary of State in Ohio, and in 1926 he aspired to the gub:rnnwrhl nomination on the Republican ucl:et. e * Posthumous honors have just been bestowed upon the late Emile Berliner, maker of the microphone, by the United States Patent Office. It granted an ap- Mr. Berliner a few th last Summer, covering the venerable Washington sci- entist’s invention of “acoustic walls.” These are a contrivance whereby the largest public halls, churches, theaters, class rooms and audience chambers of all kinds can be vastly improved for hearing purposes. The device consists of tiles bullt into the walls. The in- ventor who perfected the telephone for Alexander Graham Bell half a century ago, by constructihg a transmitter, lived to see “acoustic walls” practically tested and become a commercially sound proposition. Plans are afoot to publish in Braille for the blind this observer's biography of Berliner, written in 1927, * ok kK It is nearly 1930, but the chain letter pest is still with us. Washingtonians are Jjust in_receipt of its latest manifesta- tion. It is accompanied by the usual warning that unless the letter is passed on to nine “friends” within nine days “bad luck” will ensye. This is the text: Realizing that most of the injuries and deaths resulting from crossing accidents have been due to the care- lessness of the individuals, and be- lieving that any effort having for its purpose the elimination of accidents is a worthy one, I am pleased to pass on to you the attached chain letter with the request that you, in turn, send it to nine of your friends. Too much publicity cannot be given to the admonition “Cross Crossings Cautiously.” * ok kX ‘The Republic of Liberia, 6n the west coast of Africa, is said to hanker to come under the Stars and Stripes. Re- cent transatlantic flying events have made American aviation authoritles think that Uncle Sam could do worse than gratify the Liberians’ desire to be part of the United States. They argue that aviation bases have become as important nowadays as naval bases. Liberia’s geographical position makes that country nearer to the Western Hemisphere by air than any point in the Eastern Hemisphere, suggesting both commercial and strategic advan- tages of immeasurable value. Liberia is larger than Indiana and is rich in natural resources; fertile soil, valuable forests and water power. It is described as “particularly ripe for the capitalist, the educator and the engineer to make it & prize possession of the United States.” Harvey Firestone, tire king, has seen economic wonders accom- plished in the country since he facili- tated the granting of a $5,000,000 American loan to it in 1925. ’ (Copyright, 1929.) oo Smoke Over City Held Bar to Violet Rays From the Canton Daily News. Prof. E. E. Free of New York Uni- versity tells the metropolis, which has been waging active war on noise and smoke, that the five tons of soot sus- pended in the atmosphere of the city have no_direct harmful effects on the lungs. Their indirect effects, however, are worth noting. The smoke blanket interferes with the healthful violet rays of the sun, There is a severe strain on_the health | Byreay of Economic Research has made of the city dweller, declares Dr. Thomas Darlington, former health commission- er, from breathing the smoke-laden air all day and sleeping at night in the y "o “‘m’:uus the | power compared with past years. Thus current increase in tuberculosis in New | termine the human wear and tear, in York partly to these two factors.|sweat, blood and worry, that went into Throat, nose and lungs are constantly | the creation of the total. irritated so that resistance to disease | it is unable to report what $89,000,000,~ roar of city noises. is_greatly lessened. The restful, nour- ishing sleep which should come &t night is seldom achieved. These are only physical aspects Tgl v; hnfi:plneu all of these mighty totals e | of economic loss from both is added cause thadonu the two major nuisances of cities, tha for a Christmas present! else could make them do that. hold of you. With a sort of surging rush all your Anglo-Saxon blood pours through your veins and you have sim- ply got to do something to prove that the spirit of dear old Hengist and Horsa is not dead. The calculations 2nd hesi- tations of everyday life are forgotten, caution is flung to the winds; ye devyll take ye expense—Christmas comes but once a_year. Hurrah for Merrie Eng- land! Yoicks! Tally-ho! Zounds! If this were not a serious philological article, definitely commissioned'as such, I might be tempted to turn aside and tell you a few things about philologists. They are a narrow-minded illiterate lot, philologists are. There is nothing glad about a philologist. Why, if they had their way, they would do in Christmas altogether, and Christmas day would soon mean no more to any- body than Rogation day, whatever that is. 'Why? Simply because they would tell you that the word “ye” isn't “ye” at all, but “the,” and that the letter “y” is the modern way of representing an old Anglo-Saxon letter which was pronounced like “th.” What do you think of that? Of course it is all nonsense, as I think I have already abundantly proved in this article, but it does show you what a dismal lot of wet blankets these philologists are. Where would Christmas be if you didn't get cards with Ye Olde, Olde Wyshe on_them? Why, it is unthinkable. I should just like one of these dis. mal_philologists to go and talk o our local grocer for a few minutes. He knows all about how Christmas ought to be kept. For fifty weeks in the year he has a notice in his window which says: Currant Puddings 2s. per 1b. Mind you, I am not complaining. I am quite sure that they are excellent value for the money, but the offer leaves me as cold as the puddings. But at Christmas, about the neat pyramids of white basins an alternative cu;;l lop})“elr;:.n Wgul:‘h reads: ‘e Olde Englyshe Puddynge Shoj Chrystmasse puddynges two shylun};g: and sixpence ye pounde. And, losing all self-control, I im- mediately dash into ye shoppe and buy half-a-dozen puddynges for ye sake of Hengist and Horsa. The puddings are the same, but what a difference in the spirit in which they are offered! It is worth the extra sixpence. ‘There is no getting away from it; it is the spelling which does it.. If Hengist and Horsa and Beowulf and Grendel's mother and all those fas- cinating people had known how to spell properly, there might not BE any Christmas at all today. That is a pretty solemn sort of thought, but it is sound logic. You can say what you like, but you might just as well try to celebrate Christmas_without mistletoe as without ye olde Englyshe spellynge. So this Christmas I shall quaft a stoup of sack to the memory of Hengist and Horsa. After all, they never had much of a Christmas themselves. All they ever got were the snow and the rain and the fogs and the mist and the rheumatism. They didn't even have the fun of knowing their spelling was comic—in fact, the more I think about it, the more I doubt whether either of them could write at all. But one thing remains: Ye merrie Chrystmasse; and one thing is cer- tain: Ye determination of ye Anglo- Saxon race to spell its language and keep its Christmas how it pleases. And 50, Ye Olde, Olde Wysshe to you, and that’s that. Nothing Says Nation’s Income Should Be Explained From the Baltimore Sun. Research, eminent fact-finding organi- zation, announces that the income of the people in the United States was more than $89,000,000,000 in 1928. That is a most imposing figure, and certain to serve as the text for many a speech on the great well-being of the country. Before such a figure can be accepted as conclusive evidence of general well- being, however, there is a great deal that ought to be known about it. How was the $89,000,000,000 divided? What was its purchasing power as compared with days when the dollar meant more in the marts? How much human wear and tear went into the creation of thal grand total? And what, in terms of human happiness, the fundamenta: gauge of one's income, does that total represent? In some of its studies the National headway in finding out how the na- tional income is divided. It has also worked out indices of its purchasing however, it has been unable to de- Consequantly 000 means in human welfare, Until the social scientists work out some measure for human satisfaction The National Bureau of Economic | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J]. HASKIN. Any reader can get the answer to 'any question by writing to our information bureau in Washington, D. C. This offer applies strictly to information. The bureau cannot give advice on_legal, medical and financial matters. It does not attempt to settle domestic troubles nor undertake exhaustive research on any subject. Write your question plainly and briefly. Give full name and ad- dress u;d inctlone 2 c:‘n‘teu k‘;’h coin :lyr stamps for return postage. e reply is sent direct to the inquirer. Address The Evening Star Information Bureau, tE‘rcdglcc.v. Haskin, director, Washing- on, D. C. Q. Who were the players in the pro- duction of “The Virginian” on_the screen & number of years ago?—D. E. T. A. The 1923 production included the following screen stars: Kenneth Har- lan, Florence Vidor, Russell Simpson, Pat O'Malley and Raymond Hatton. Q. Did any major leaguer hit the .400 mark at bat last season?—M. R. A. Lefly O'Doul of the Philadelphia National (eain_ended the season, ac- cording to unofficial averages, with .400, a mark which has seldom been attained. Q. Is there a building taller than the Eiffel Tower?—E. H. W. A. The Chrysler Building, now be! constructed in New York City, is 1,030 feet above the sidewalk. The Eiffel Tower is 1,000 feet high. . Is the enrollment larger at Cam- bridge, England, than at Harvard or Yale?—W. H. A, A. Harvard has about 8,000 and Yale about 5,000 students. The latest en- rollment available for Cambridge is about 6,000, of which number about 5,000 are men and 1,000 are women. Q. What part of the brain does the thinking ?—D. L. A. The gny matter, or what scien- tists call the cortex. This is a thin layer from one-tenth to one-quarter of an inch thick, spread over the surface of the upper part of the brain. Q. How long was Amundsen away from his base when he discovered the South Pole?—S. P. A. His dash to the Pole covered 1,738 miles and took 97 days. Q. What is the highest price paid for one pair of women's hosiery? A, H R. A. The h!:‘hut on record is H.W& This of stockings consisted clocks made up of real diamonds. Q. Is Paris the third city in size?— It gets | R, H. A. Paris is fifth. London and New York are first and second. Some au- thorities consider London first and New York second, while others give first place to New York. It depends upon the area considered as composing the cities. Berlin is third, Chicago fourth and Paris comes next. be that are used for outdoor municipal decoration?—K. W. to be used. Usually trees from 20 to 40 feet in height are chosen. Q. How many pamphlets and circu- lars does the Department of Agricul- ture distribute?—D. E. M. A, In the fiscal year ended in June, 1929, the Department of Agriculture distributed more than 25,000,000 copies of publications. ing | name of their caldron, Q. How tall should Christmas trees | air A. It depends upon where they are| air. Q. Are all airplane gers equipped with hutes?—@. 8. J. A. The Army, Navy and airmail pilots carry parachutes, but civil passengers on airlines are not equipped with them, Q. Why was the name of the gramo- phone changed to Victor talking ma- chine?—A. McA. A. There arose a question as to whether the word “gramophone” could be patented. In order to avoid diffi- culty, Eldridge R. Johnson coined the name “Victor Talking Machine” as a trade mark. Q. When will Quebec hold its annual snow battle?—R. C. A. The annual Fete de Nuit is sched- uled for January 20. The fete consists of a snow battle between the garrison of the Citadel and the guests in the city hotels. After the battle there is a torchlight procession. Q :re chowders typically American? A. Chowders, although considered American, did not originate in America. They are lu&poleu to have been made first by the fisher folk of Brittany. For them every one in the village brought their contribution for the dish and added it to the common caldron, and the name ‘“chowder” comes from the which was “chaudiere.” Our early colonists learned this dish from the French, and so chow- ders are associated with the histary of New England, and are thus linked with America in general. g. LWho wrote the Negro spirituals? A. These folk songs, said to be the only real folk songs in America, grew up in Negro communities as expressions of group experience, and are the results of the Negroes' habit of putting into verse any experience that impressed them. There are thousands of these songs which have never been written, many of rare beauty, which are known only locally. There are evidences of African influence in these songs. In all of them there is not one note of bitterness. Q. What is the tion of Cal Egypt?—B. T. am i A. It now has a population of 1,550,= 000, and is growing rapidly. Q. In what year did Rudyard ling get a trade mark for the zlzphi‘n?; head?—J. J. A. His trade mark was registered .;1;'?_;101.11 18, 1901. The number Q. _Who was the first of min West?—R. B. Lo m A. A Philadelphian, Matthew Pratt. He was a rehative of Mrs, West. Q. What can be done to get rid of or put to use the electricity generated by walking on a hux rug?—F. L. 8. A. The Bureau Standards says that the experience cescribed is & com- mon one in Winter, when the heated indoors is very dry. There is no effective way of preventing such charges except increasing the humidity of the . The energy is so small as to be entirely useless. Q. How old is China, according to history?—C. E. A. The history of China goes back at least 4,000 years. The Middle knew it as the Empire of tl first accounts China are those given by Marco Polo, about 1260 A.D. Many Suggestio ‘The mutiny at Auburn Prison, in New ‘York, involving several deaths and com- ing as a climax to a series of such affairs in various parts of the country, and many suggestions, includ! the return to more severe discipline, better accommodations for criminals and seg- regation of hardened characters from other prisoners. g ‘The New York Sun ‘PW‘" out that in this mutiny “apparently a score of con- victs were active promoters of and par- ticipants in the outbreak”; that “the other 1,580 inmates of the prison appear to have behaved themselves with as much self-restraint as could be expected of the onlookers at a riot. * * * Not all convicts plot to escape,” continues the Sun, “though practically all would escape if the way were clear. The pro- portion of plotters may or may not be larger than it once was, but there was never a time when any penal institution did not shelter inmates who spent their time trying to devise means to get out. No matter how luxurious a prison may be made, there will never be one in which all the inmates will be happy and content to stay.” * K ok X Emphasizing the “hopelessness of these attempts to escape,” the Boston Transcript reviews the present discus- sion as to “inadequacy and indecency in the accommodations. * * * lack of steady employment, * * * longer sentences and the failure to se ite ‘lifers’ and long-term prisoners where they may be better guarded. The series of outbreaks,” continues the Transcript, “has directed attention to these things. Out of it may come a better public un- derstanding of the whole question of the treatment of prisoners in a manner to upreaerve order within prison walls while making punishment adequate from t?et standpoint of the protection of so- ciety.” “When the inmates of penitentiaries are of the new type of criminal,” ac- cording to the Fort Worth Record- Telegram, “the resultant effect on obso- lete systems may be expected. There are very many more—and better— ‘brains’ and much more of ruthless desperateness confined within peniten- tiary walls today than ever before. control them and to some degree inject the element of reform into such a mass requires a governing body equally ad- vanced in the science of human nature. Such timber is not available for the purely political administrations of State penitentiaries.” o “Three points stand out distinctly, in the opinion of the Schenectady Ga- zette. First, ‘the State's positionthat there can be no compromise, no dealing with criminals, is the only tenable one. The slightest concession to men who have broken the law and who for a moment hold the upper hand danger- ously weakens the whole structure of law and order.” Second, ‘poor food, overcrowding, needless exactions” which breaks.” Third, that the State “should consider the need of segregating hard- ened criminals from the younger and less serious offenders.” The Gazette also gives attention to the importance of State troopers in filling a gap in the law-enforcement agencies, and pays a tribute in connection with the Auburn break that they “have given further evidence of their value.” ‘The incident of one State trooper in- spires the enthusiasm of the Grand Rapids Press, when it says: “The con- victs, seeing all doors opened ahead of them, in accordance with the warden's face a solitary State trooper, who, look- ing into the barrels of those m: s’ guns, calmly tosses a ‘tear bomb into their midst and leads an attack which frees the warden and breaks the mutiny. Presumably that trooper will receive the reward he deserves. Looking death lars must fall far short of telling | story of the welfare of the | for all American cities to clamp down | country. the lid on noise and smoke. .- ———— It Seems to Be So. From the Toledo Blade. r crimes Intelligent human beings lived & mil- | fidence what equals making one’s debut ' outstanding feature by lion years ago. But more gratifying is' as Santa Claus and having one of the Post-Ga: the thought that many are still living, w + ot We Give Up. From the Saginaw Daly News. Of all sad cases of misplaced con- youngsters spot you instantly? coolly in the face—without any fanfare of bands and patriotism, and without the strength of numbers, but stmply as a matter of duty—is, just as the warden humbly commented, ‘astounding brav- erye * ok kX ‘The need of segregation for those ac- cused of major is mv.incd as an h brings forth expressions of deep concern | this “breed the discontent that causes out- | the orders, step out into the prison hall to| ™ ns Offered To Cure Prison Rebellion}s last-named holds that “if Auburn had been modernized, as it should have been, with provision for ki its worst inmates in solitary ent, lot, with its direful co; not have been hatched. g the ica Observer-Di gent,” |asks ‘how have ‘been apolis News argues, “We should think that in a properly ordered prison the :‘l;:lell,a‘l of mutineers would be impos- m;A prhoam ua%mummudem be lfi same time human igilant, advises the Louisville WJ - Pat- that the should be blamed for the revolt is made by the New York Evening World and the Buf- falo_Evening N The Norfolk Led- ger-Dispatch, v a day when p, of our States re almost incredibly brutal,” adds that “it is quite possible the pendulum has swung too far the other way.” “‘Authorities everywhere are facing a grave 'Rroblem in overflowing prisons,” says e Seattle Daily Times. “The Auburn outbreak is the fifth within six months’ Evidently there is something wrong with the system aside from over- crowding of penal institutions.” The lemlnmn Pantagraph declares that ‘building of prisons in the country, gen- erally speaking, has not kept up with the increase in crime.” Foes of World Court In Senate Condemned To_the Editor of The Star: Militarists and big navy boosters for many years have harped on the worn-out words “If 'you want peace p: re for war.” Thelr system for centuries was tried and failed utterly. It culminated in the late “war to end war.” Thereafter President Wilson succeecied in persuad- ing the majority of civilized nations to fict:bl‘l:h an ‘Inmnlmnl Court of Jus- , which for man; A decad had been the dream g! '"fl‘!’l:u ca P our Benat ut our ators, at the beh bunch of “irreconcilables,” hlv?eloo‘r‘ : share of the re- sponsibilities and benefits offered by this :m;:to mlsmna: Ae;:-lhghed and of which en! er} ‘hlevl ; n jurist is one of low comes President Hoove: the Senate to take the naceu:r‘yngc:i‘ohfi avd let this country do its bit, joining and adopting the This is already done! The man in the street, so far as I know, needs no further argument to convince B e e B R a d e aftermath of the last war, with its, miserable harvest of death, disease and debt, is still in his mind's eye; and the Jm«:b of another war with its ull miseries and horrors un- ;Pemhla has no attractions for him. e knows that, if individuals can settle private disputes and difficulties by ref- erence to justice, quarrels among na- tions can ‘also be settled by justice. urther terminate y that we; aboutbridge, but she has 1§ zette, the Akron Beacon-Journal the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. The ¢ and because it is fashionable,