Evening Star Newspaper, January 1, 1930, Page 8

K-8 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. "WASHINGTON, D. C. WEDNESDAY. . .January 1, 1930 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: 1ith St. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 110 Bast 42nd St. Chicago Office: Lake Michigan Bullding. European Office; 14 Regent 8 ndon, « ngland. Rate by Carrier Within the City. The Eveninz Sta .45c Ler month The Eveninj b 65¢ per month Sc per copy i@ end of each month. rders may be sent in by mail or telephore lonal 5000, Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. aily and Sy -1 yr., $10.00: ily only Sunday only All Other States and 1 Member of the Associated Press. ‘The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of ail ncws dis- Paiches credited to it or not otheywise cred- ted in this paper and also the local news published herein. All richt special dispatches herein = f publication of also reserved. Prosperity Prospect for 1930. In reckoning the historic values of the events of 1929 in this country great- est weight will probably be given to the financial disturbance which marked the final quarter. This disturbance was only another Stock Exchange reversal, yet it has its place in American history be- cause of the fact that it did not lead to Nation-wide misfortune, to acute busi- ness depression or severe industrial r action. The significance of the “panic” in Wall Street was chiefly that it did not lead to a panic in the country at large. ‘The series of sharp declines in the price list of stocks and other securities which began in October was an al- together natural result of long contin- ued unrestrained speculation and price boosting. The averages of quotations had reached a point far above actual values. Enormous amounts of money were involved in a volume of transac- tions greatly exceeding all records. The stock market had been in a buying frenzy for many months. Of course, this process could not con- tinue indefinitely. All the known checks and balances had failed to bring about & normal recession, and then financial nature took its course, as it were. The speculative bubble broke. “Paper” for- tunes were swept away in terms of hun- dreds of millions. Actual fortunes were greatly diminished. Speculators were cleaned out by sales which carried away their margins. An untold number cf people lost their savings of years. But all this money was, so to speak, merely shifted from one set of pockets to an- other. There was no real loss in the sense of destruction of values. Business conditions and, outside of the speculative exchanges, financial conditions were fundamentally sound. ‘The country was in good economic health. There was danger nevertheless of the panic spirit spreading from the speculative markets to the actual mar- kets, the commodity fleld, the indus- tries, the mercantile lines. At the so- called psychological moment the Presi- dent of the United States acted to sta- bilize conditions, and called conferences of leaders of industry, labor, finance, trade and transportation and from their meetings came assurances that the Na- tion’s business would be carried on as usual, that indeed large programs of expansion would be instituted to guar- antee continued employment. The New Year opens therefore with a bright prospect for the Nation's mate- rial well-being. Conditions are funda- mentally sound, the panic spirit that led to the sensational spasmodic re- action in Wall Street has passed, the folly of extended speculation is real- ized. Capital that was employed last year in unproductive enterprise is re- stored to its proper service. Prosperity should continue, to make 1930 notable in American history. —_——— A musical evolution is in progress which finds “jazz” recognized in the most prominent circles. This style of music now employs complicated effects calculated to test the skill of the expert performer. It has progressed a long way since its reliance on tin horns and €ow bells as solo instruments. —ee One of the hardest jobs imaginable in the present agitation in Asia would be the chairmanship of a Chinese com- mittee on foreign relations. P —— . Indian Independence. Despite some confusion of details in the dispatches from Lahore, describing the procedings of the Indian Nation- alist Congress, it is evident that a serious independence movement has been start- ed and that the British rule is gravely menaced. It does not follow that the movement will succeed quickly, or per- haps at all. It does not follow, elther, that conflict will result from the declarations adopted yesterday at La- hore. But it is clear that the Nationalist movement has gained headway in con- sequence of this meeting, attended by immense numbers of people from all parts of India and marked by scenes of the wildest enthusiasm and even fanati- cal spirit. ‘The significance of this action by the Nationalist Congress at Lahore is the greater because of the fact that the Simon commission, which recently con- ducted a survey of the Indian situation with a view to the adoption of reforms in the British administration of Indian affairs, has not yet been submitted. It 1s evident that the Nationalists of India are not disposed to walt for reforms, are not inclined to be satisfled with moderate measures. It is significant that Mahatma Ghandi, who has for some time been preaching patience and quiescent pro- test, has in this new situation taken a more advanced stand. While he recently favored a British dominion status for India, he now advocates as a first step in the direction of independence the boycotting of all councils or cabinets, set up for the country and its constit- uent states. Such a boycott would be far more serious in its effects than the commodity boycott proclaimed by Ghandi some years ago and maintained by his followers to a large number with a serious effect upon British trade. A completely independent Indian state would seem, at present reckoning, |not merely anomalous, but impossible. ‘The elements of native discord are too ‘numerous and too positive to permit the fc:tablishment of an luolu\ely,:uwno- mous nation. Indeed, the very word na- tion has been rated as an absurdity with reference to the people of Hindu- stan. There is no unity of race, or language or religion. There are, on the contrary, wide and positive divisions in India on all scores. The spectacle of an immense multi- tude assembling at Lahore in favor of complete independence is not to be ac- cepted as evidence of Indian solidarity. There are many millions in Hindustan who are honestly and sincerely favor- able to the continuation of British suzerainty and there are many more millions who do not-favor Hindu inde~ pendence, being themselves of a differ- ent race and religious faith. Then there are other millions who are indifferent, to whom the question is of no moment, but who are concerned merely in the ! matter of living. Although this independence move- ment is only in the hypothetical status at present, it may lead to severe re- 9e | actions. Indeed the Lahore assemblage was marked by a militant demonstra- tlon by Sikhs, some thousands of whom marched into Lahore in colorful and somewhat truculent style as a protest against certain grievances of their own and in expression of hostility to the Nationalist movement. Tragic rioting ‘was prevented only by some successful strategic movements by the police. i —————— Standing in Line. Beginning today the municipal government declines o presume that every automobile owner is honest enough to pay his personal property tax without persuasion. Beginning tomorrow the municipal government will effect that persuasion by witholding automobile tags until personal property taxes have been paid. As a generous sum in personal tax payments will accrue to the municipal- ity because of this change of attitude, the taxpayer will not rebel against the principle and will be as glad to pay his share of taxes as any citizen can be. That does not connote great and bub- bling enthusiasm on the part of the taxpayer, but it does mean that no justifiable complaint can be lodged against the municipality for its change of attitude. It is one thing to levy taxes and another thing to collect them. An efficient collection system is alto- gether desirable. But while the automobile owner will not, or cannot logically, object to pay- ing his taxes, he can object strenuously forced to stand in line for an hour or s0 and go through a lot of red tape while he subjects himself to the process of having his taxes extracted. Beginning tomorrow and continuing up to the last day of grace—February 1—there will be three long lines of citi- zens at the District Bullding. One line will be engaged in the task of having automobiles and other personal prop- erty assessed for taxation. Another line will be paying personal property taxes on this assessment and paying the $1 tag fee. Another line will be receiving the nice new tags. Because of the wording of the law, the District Commissioners were not able to begin the standing-in-line proc- ess until the first of the year. Next year they hope to have the law amended to permit the issuance of tags during December. They should go even further. They should obtain legislative authority to do as the States do and issue tags through the mail. There is no good reason why a taxpayer should have to 80 to the District Bullding and stand in line. He should be able to transact this business . with his municipal gov- ernment as he transacts other business —through the malil. ‘The States have inaugurated systems that relieve the automobile owner of the task of standing in line and paying his taxes when he reaches the grilled win- dow. They put the taxpayer through the mill with the least of inconvenience. ‘The District should do the same thing. ——— e Persons who sold stocks at a loss to cut down income tax may find when they come to buy in again that they might better have paid the tax. ————————— The Paisley Tragedy. One of the most ghastly of all trage- dies in the history of human disaster was enacted yesterday at Paisley, Scot- land, when seventy-two children were killed in a panic in rushing at an alarm of fire from & motion picture theater, packed to the doors at a special holiday performance. There was but little fire, a burning reel having been thrown from the bullding almost immediately after the outburst of flame. But the fumes from the combustion of the celluloid film added seriously to the casualties. No mention is made in the dispatches of the condition of the building, its fire- resisting qualities or its arrangement of exits. There would seem, however, to be no ground for criticism on this score. The panic was such as might have oc- curred in any place of amusement where a great many children were as- sembled, with few adults as escorts. A little over three years ago forty- nine people were killed in the most dis- astrous motion picture fire hitherto in the British Isles. This was in the vil- lage of Drumcolollagher in Ireland. The film was being shown in a large loft over an automobile garage, from which there was but one narrow exit by & ladder to the ground floor. Two hun- dred persons were packed into this room. A burning candle fell on a yoll of film near the doorway and started & holocaust. ‘The Paisley performance was in cele- bration of the “Hogmanay,” or Scot- tish New Year eve. According to one dispatch, the theater offered 750 seats and another states that 2,000 children had crowded their way iuto the build- ing. It was a “tuppenny” show, the ad- mission being a little less than five cents in American money, & speclally low price In consideration of the holi- day. The youngsters were mostly chil- dren of mill operatives. There is no known way to prevent panic. Fire risks can be reduced, safe- guards can be adopted, all the precau- tions for preventing the beginning and spreading of flames may be installed, but the panic spirit is beyond control. Perhaps in a case like that of Paisley the fault lay in allowing so many chil- dren to assemble without grown-ups in charge. In some American cities the attendance of young children at places of public entertainment without adult escort is prohibited, partly as & pre- caution against disaster. A possible explanation of the seem- ingly instant development of panic at the Paisley theater is to be found in and no doubt he will rebel against being | THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTO the fact that immediately before th alarm the children had witnessed a passage in the film—which depicted life in a factory town very much like their own-—-relating to a tragedy, the killing of a child by an automobile. The little folks were doubtless in a highly emotional state at that moment when the burst of flame and the puff of smoke and the cry of fire started them on their fatal franti: rush for the doors. - oo Resolves. ‘This business of making good reso- lutions on the eve of the New Year, or at its dawn, is not altogether a joke. It may not result in permanent im- provement and the failure of resolves, often repcated, has given rise to the jest about eggshell wills. Yet the striving, however futile, for betterment is in itself beneficlal. It is at least an indi- cation of an arousal of conscience. It has often been remarked that there is nothing especially sacrosanct sbout New Year day as a time for the turn- ing over of new leaves. Every day in the year is as good as January 1 for the beginning of an effort for reforma- tion, in some particular or some degree. The man with a habit of indulgence can stop, or try to stop, as well on the sev- enteenth of May as on the initial day of the year. The woman given to sharp speech can start the softening of her tongue as sincerely and perhaps as effectively on the ninth of November as on the New Year. Most of the “good resolutions” that are made by those who wish themselves well on the first day of the year relate to minor faults, to individual peculiarities, to “habits” that impinge upon the com- fort and the serenity of others. Rarely does a “good resolver’ of the New Year season turn over a very dark leaf. If the thing that ought not to be done is something particularly grave, it is not made a matter of attempted seasonal reformation. . So in the main the good resolutions of the New Year time are almost exclu- sively minor in character, relating to peccadilloes and idiosyncrasies. And for that very reason they are not often effective, for these minor manners are just as deeply rooted as the major ones. They,are part of the personality. Man cannot altogether make himself over by sheer will. He may work some changes for the better. He may cure some bad habit of speech or conduct or i thought, but he cannot transform him- self, by simple reference to the calen- dar and “good resolutions” on the first of January. Indeed, the very postpone- ment of a resolve to do and to be better to the conventionai date is a confession of weakness of will in this very respect. Still the battle goes on, between the forces of good and the forces of evil. Each human being is a battle ground. ‘There is no governing calendar. The fight rages hourly, daily, weekly, month- ly, yearly, for the whole span of life. And those who resolve and fail, who “fall by the wayside,” as the old-fashioned phrase runs, are still in the fight, what- ever may be their record of defeats. —————————— Having wished all their Government associates a happy New Year, men in authority will now proceed with their usual comments and activities. Courteous formalities are valuable as reminders that disagreement in opinion does not necessarily imply personal ill will. r——— Advice to “keep the Government out of business” is frequently offered. The advice is not easily taken. The Govern- ment has business of its own ic attend to; highly important and sufficient to exempt it from interferemce in small details of money-making. ——————— Confidence is expressed in the busi- ness outlook for 1930. There were many lessons to be learmed in 1929. The fact may as well be admitted at the outset that margin speculators are usually poor students. ———————— The holiday savings account is a popularly recognized advantage. Prepa- rations will be immediately under way for 1930's merry Christmas. ot SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Old Year. And must you go so soon, Old Year, To hurry on your way Out there among the stars, Old Dear, Beyond the Milky Way! It is a very little while Since you a stranger seemed, Who met us with a happy smile ‘Where lights 50 gayly gleamed. ‘With you we'd share the hope so fair, You saw the trembling tear. You brought us many an hour of care And many a day of cheer. You leave us, never to return, ‘The parting brings a sigh. ‘You helped us all to live and learn, Old Year—Old Dear—Good-by! The New Resolution. “Mave you made your New Year resolution?” “It's not quite complete,” said Senator Sorghum. “It has been a kind of rough | in year with me, and I have so many com- plicated toplcs to think about that I find it difficult to get much further along than ‘whereas.’” Jud Tunkins says many a man seems glad to get back from a holiday, put his feet on his desk and enjoy & good rest. Obliging Friend. My radio! My radio! Aftection does not drop. ‘When weary of your words I know That I can make you stop. No Coy Concealments. “Women seem to know much more than men.” “They always did,” said Mr. Meekton. “Only they now admit it.” “A wish for happiness,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “brings & smile to others, and becomes for the moment its own fulfiliment.” Storm at Sea. Rum runners by & boat were caught. She was & saucy rover That found the waves with trouble fraught— ‘The crew was half-seas over. “A five-day week ain’ gineter do you no good, son,” sald Uncle Eben, “if it don't mean mo mo’ dan extra time foh crap shootin’.” .. - A Should a guest be formidable? Some happy hosts have by nature the art of being at home in their own houses, but common observation shows that guests to most people mean some perturbation. Even 80 accomplished a man as Ralph ‘Waldo Emerson, accustomed to the lec- %:Ln platform and the best society of be day, wrote once in his journal: “If we could establish the rule that each man was a guest in his own house, and when we had shown our visitors the passages of the house, the way to fire, to bread and water, and thus made them as much at home as the inhabi- tant, did then leave them to the acci- dents of intercourse and went about our ordinary business, a guest would no longer be formidable. The sage here seems to ask that guests be made not only completely at home by the simple procedure of leav-|be ing them alone but that the host &ut himself exactly on the same footing. He must be, so Emerson says, “a guest in his own house.” By this he means that he should hold fast to the ordi- nary courtesy which soclety demands of a guest. But the guest, on the other hand, must be freed from a superfluity of courtesy, or at least strict formality which repeats to him with every act, “Of course, you are my guests, and I must not act naturally.” * Kk ok ‘There is little question that if every one concerned in a “visit” could forget the very fact of the visit much good might be accomplished in freeing all from such restraint as ordinarily hangs to _having visitors in the house. Some people make a great pow-wow about the thing. If there is but one bath room, it is given over to the guest, and the “man of the house” re- tires to the basement to do his shav- ing. This may be courtesy, but it is cairying it too far. Unless the base- ment shaving is made a deep secret, it cannot help having an adverse effect on the guest. Unless he is one of the most unusual persons in the world, fat in his own conceit, he will feel embarrassed that any one should be driven to the depths of basement shaving. A laundry tub is a great institution, but it should be used for laundry only, with the possi- ble exception of baths for the family pet. It may be submitted that no guest in his right mind would require of his host that he use it for the daily shave. Shaving at best is not exactly pleas- urable, although some men by inten- sive investigation manage to make it tolerable. A primary rule, therefore, in the re- lation of host and guests is that neither do anything to embarrass the other. Such a little matter as sleeping on t! sofa in the living room, of course, wil not be counted. This is too time-hon- ored. Even a host has a right to sleep on the sofa if by doing so he can make his guests feel more at home. After he gets to sleep he will not worry about the possibilities of a_centipede crawl- ing into his ear. That was an old wives' tale, handed down from the days when houses were dark, householders were afraid of “night air,” and crawl- ing things had life pretty much their own way. * K ok % It would be a good thing for life in the abstract if the rule could be estab- lished, as Emerson desired, that each man was a guest in his own home. ‘This would end slippers, bathrobes and similar comfortable but somewhat un- nx{my appurtenances of the modern male. Even the ultimate in making the guest “feel at home” would not enable a stranger to saunter into the living room in bathrobe and slippers, or come down to breakfast in—shall we whisper | D. C, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 1930. THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. One has to be at home The question is whether rmits such actions. Per- haps most es would be the better for an adherence to ‘There are those persons, ys to be congratulated, who actually like to put on a dress suit for dinner, although it & solitary one. ‘To those of us who like life more informal this would seem a bit too harsh—like putting one’s self into har- ness just for the sake of putting one's self into harness. It is believed mostly that there should be some particular reason for accoutering one's self in the semblance of a walter on parade. The g:mn who can do it, however, must congratulated by all of us slippered ones who prefer comfort to ks.” ‘This is one of those great divisions of thought about which there will never any agreement. Comfort and looks do not go together, always or precisely. Most often we can have the one or the other, but not both at the same time. Lucky is he who is comfortable in a dress suit! ‘Theoretically, then, a man should be & guest in his own home, but actually he is too inclined to know that he is not and to do as he pleases. O. Henry in his short storles was fond of pictur- ing & worthy workingman taking his ease In his socked feet after supper. Such crudity shocked every one, in- cluding the man’s wife, who put up with what she could not change. Run- ning up the scale, there are many variations, but one and all have their koginnings in the idea that “one’s home is his castle.” That idea has been re- sponsible for much good, but also some harm. A home is not necessarily a place to do as one pleases. Those who most often use that quotation are found annoying their neighbors. * ok ox % A guest for his part has most to do to keep himself from becoming formi- dable to his host. More than the latter, he must make himself feel at home in somebody else’s house if he is to make the host feel at home in his own. A self-conscious guest, sitting around with his hands in his lap, or twiddling his thumbs, is not to be compared with the happy individual who takes off his c:.:. and throws 1t over the back of the chair. Guests, above all, should be readers. Perhaps 'a mew rule should make it mandatory upon those contemplating visits that they read assiduously. There is nothing that will make a family feel more at home than the knowledge that the house guest has found a book to his liking and doesn’t require to be taken to the movie. The reading guest is a little home-maker in his own right. Put him down before a bookcase and he is like a dog before a dish of bones— he doesn’t know which one to choose. There is a mistaken idea that it is not polite to read in company. He or she who picks up a book or magazine really pays a compliment to the home, for not every house has books or mag- azines worth reading. It is as natural and as correct for a reader to read in another man’s house as to do so in his own. He should not go to the extent of the impolite man in one of Jane Aus- ten's novels, who never once took his eyes off his book during an entire call. No; he should raise them at least once every 15 minutes, like radio announcers who chime in with the station letters. Naturalness, then, as it is the gist of etiquette, also is the one necessary rule in the relation of host and guest. If people, whether entertaining or being entertained, would be themselves, as- suredly at their best, and stop trying to be somebody else, no host would be bored and no guest would be 11l at ease. Above all, no guest would be formi- dable—a terrible charge to bring against human beings in their best hours. m—p:jumn. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. No question is being more assiduously asked at the dawn of the New Year than this one—what is Borah up to? Why has he all of a sudden stirred up a hornet's nest about prohibition en- forcement? What's the big idea? The answers are as many and varied as the queries. Senator Smoot, at whom Borah frequently tilts, and vice versa, thinks the Idahoan is suffering from sleeplessness and needs a sedative. Others, less outspoken, accuse Borah of chronic publicity-seeking. Still another group of critics says he is afflicted with his quadrennial attack of “presidentitis” and is grooming himself as the G. O. P.'s 1932 standard-bearer on a bone- dry platform. This observer risks the opinion that none of these explanations hits the nail on the head. To be, with, Borah is an out-and-out prohi tionist, politically and pe: who has always held that the liquor laws are feebly and insincerely enforced. In the second place, no man in Washington has less occasion to hunt headlines than Borah, for none is so gratuitously given them by news\nper men. They like the Great Incalculable. They see the Pres- ident of the United States in a press conference twice a week. They go to Borah's office every week day at 3 pm. * ok k% The foreign relations chairman is an extraordinarily human person, and doesn’t mind being talked about for President. But in his moments of can- dor, which is Borah's natural state, he'll tell you he has about as much chance of entering the White House as he has “of becoming King of England” —an idiom of his own. The Idahoan knows he could never obtain the regu- lar Republican nomination, and he has bushel basketfuls of letters from ad- ‘mirers su ing an independent can- didacy which has never appealed to him. It will be interesting to observe hew far Borah 1is prepared to his drive to get enforcement worthy of the name. All of his detractors, and many of his friends, are ready to bet him he'll not go very far. They recall a fa- mous saying about him—that “Big Bill"” has knocked more home runs, and only got to first base on them, any man in American politics. * K kX President Hoover's temporary office the State, War and Navy Building has been promptly and thoroughly stripped of Ogu martial trappings it while the room was Gen. Pershing's headquarters. Vanished are the por- traits of Gens. Washington, Grant, Sherman and Sheridan, the marble ‘World War ™ g, Joffre and , too, is the antique mirror of wall-] di- ensions, which adorned the office from The earlicst days of the State, War and | they Navy mansard monstrosity. Hooverian ll.m'glidzy now marks the chief engi- neer's makeshift habitat. * ok ok K A couple of weeks ago there cre) into this column an inexactitude about the mamoth facsimile of the Presi- dent’s seal of office, imbedded in the floor of the White House foyer. It was stated that it is an imperfect copy of the grea seal of the United States, be- cause it shows the eagle screaming to ed right. The facts are (1) that it is the | tha presidential seal and not the Republic's seal which Roosevelt put into the floor, and (2) that on that emblem the eagle screams toward the left, whereas on seal of the United States it faces to the observations hat that his bump of ornithological direc- tion is poorly developed. * K ok K Arthur M. Hyde, Secretary of Agri- Dt | costly things on the Government. a business directorate—the Federal Farm Board. But the success of the venture will depend quite as much upon the support it receives from the farmers Politics at Large By G. Gould Lincoln. Prohibition enforcement—not simply the question of prohibition—is likely to becorae one of the leading political issues. The recent outburst in Wash- ington, with dry Senators demanding the official head of Secretary Mellon, is only a forerunner of what may be expected. The effort of dry Demo- cratic leaders—who followed Al Smith in the last campaign and who now must stand for re-election to Con- gress—is to prove themselves more enamored of prohibitior than Presi- dent Hoover and the Republicans. It is quite natural, therefore, that they should attack the administration and keep on attacking it because of the fact that prohibition is not enforced 100 per cent, or even 75 per cent. Paradoxically the effort of the dry Democrats to embarrass the Repub- Jican administration is not necessarily displeasing to the wet Democrats of New York and Massachusetts, who in- sist, and have insisted for years, that prohibition cannot be enforced. All the attacks now leveled at the ad- ministration, they say, merely bears out the wets’ theory. * K Kk President Hoover has set his shoulder to the wheel. He defeated a wet in the race for the presidency. He declared prohibition a “noble experiment which must be worked out constructively.” He is expected now to work it out. The drys demand that he work it out one way, and one way only—by absolute enforcement of the law. The wets and liberals want a modification of the dry laws. The only thing which the Chief Executive can do, however, until the law is changed is to go ahead with its enforcement. That he is planning to do. It 5 no secret that the question of prohibition enforcement in previous administrations has been side-stepped to a very considerable degree. But from now on it is not going to be enough for public officials to declare themselves in favor of “law enforcement.” They have got to enforce the law or come in for more and bitterer political attacks than ever before. - With the Democrats divided so strongly over the question of prohibition, and many of the Republicans holding opposing views on this subject, it is A difficult job to make of prohibition an issue along strict party lines. But the question of enforcement of the law is another matter. The wets as well as the drys may be expected to at- tack an administration in which law enforcement is not a success. * % x How much this issue of law enforce- ment will color the coming congression- al campaign and the results of the elec- tions next November is still a question. It may be a dominant feature of the campaign, especially if the administra- tion goes ahead with all of its force and strength to put into more effective op- eration the prohibitory laws. It may make the tariff issue, which the Demo- crats have sought to raise with assid- uous care for the last year, a mere side show. Prohibition and the enforcement of it is something that the people gen- erally can understand far more easily than complex arguments for or against the tariff rates. * K x ‘The year 1930, opening today, is to be a critical year for the Hoover adminis- tration and the Republicans. If the Democrats should win control of one or both houses of Congress, the adminis- tration would be hamstrung, so far as putting its policies into effect are con- cerned. The President under such eir- cumstances could make all the recom- mendations in the world to Congress and get nothing. Even if the recom- mendations were of the best the Demo- crats would prefer to have such re- forms put into effect with a Democratic administration in control. The mid- presidential term congressional elections have spelled defeat for more than one Republican and Democratic administra- tion in the past. There is always the danger of the swing back of the political pendulum in these elections, following two years on the heels of a presidential election. The administration sometimes as upon the s6und business policies td§ has not had full opportunity to bring be followed by the Farm Board. With- out the willing support of farmers the board cannot hope to succeed in per- fecting an organization which will ac- complish the purpose of the agricultural marketing act.” Secretary Hyde doesn't discuss the grain commission men’s al- leged vendetta against the Farm Board, though he does acclaim the more fa- vorable “credit conditions” which now exist and which Julius Barnes and his confreres look upon as unfair competi- tion. * k% % One of the first fruits of the visit of about reforms which it promised during | the presidential campaign, or it has been negligent, or some unforeseen cir- cumstance has arisen to change the picture entirely. * ok ok o The collapse of the stock market, al- though the country's business is con- tinuing as usual, has upset not a few people. The fact that so many hun- dreds of thousands and even millions of men and women take to lgecullun: in an effort to get rich quick makes the trouble. They all have votes. It seems quite clear that the crash would have President-elect Ortiz Rublo of Mexico| come had Calvin Coolidge chosen to is the decision of a representative group | run and had been elected President in of American business men to attend his| 1928, or even if Alfred E. Smith had inauguration on February 5. A com- been in the White House. Prices had mittee, headed by James W. Gerard,) been pushed too high, and the profes- former Ambassador to Germany, has|sionals undertook to push them down been formed to organize the expedition. | again. What effect the stock market The Mexican-American Chamber Commerce of New York is sponsoring the “good-will tour.” e ee New honors have just come couple of to a ung men who were in the| jority in t of | flasco is to have on the voting next Fall adds to the uncertainty of the political situation today. * K ok x ‘The Republicans have a large ma- ge House—practically a hun- thick of tmnn at Washington during (dred more members than have the the World War. Ralph Hayes, private | Democrats in that body. secretary to Newton D. Baker, Secre- While there may be shifts, unless there were a real tary of War, has been appointed sec-|upheaval, Republican control of the ond vice president and executive as- sistant to Ralph Pulitzer, publisher of | evitable. House in the next Congress seems in- The margin of Republican control in the Senate is less, but the S Cacohoslovaki has besioed ane.of | Democrats will have. to. travel some (o its highest civilian decorations upon | Win control of the Upper House. Lewis K. Strauss, a member of Kuhn, It is true that with some of the Republican - | insurgents joining them the Democrats O A e P e pitea | can now defeat the plans of the Repub- States Food Administration. (Copyright, 1930.) Appropriations Show s Government’s Growth o tvo. Prom the Tulsa Daily World. From the statement that the United States Government appropriations in- creased about 10 times in 40 years there can be bullt up several theories or ex- planations. The readiest answer is that the country grows that fast, but prob- ably the real answer is that the Gov- ernment takes over several costly jobs every few years. ‘The n of expenditures came e death of Senator Warren, in nearly 40 years, most of the time active in the appropriations com- mittee. In 1890, when he entered the Senate, the app: tions, as near as can now be computed, ran to about $400,000,000. Now they are about $4,000,000,000. ‘There is a question of the ability of the country to keep up with the Gov. ernment, for they constantly un)u: scale of expenditures built up through the yearais not usually reduced; it goes right along, unless the concern into hlnkrupn:r ‘The people have had a share in bullding up a 4,000,000,000~ dollar Government and should make up their minds to maintain it on that scale. ‘The way we are adding commi and functions to Government indicates soon be a considerable dis- of the formidable 4,000, e i fi-ge Is Justified. the Des Moines Tribune-Capital. band is ielunsicy Machine Gun Standardes. From the Springfield (Mass.) Republican. ‘There has been an a of a di- very 55 minutes in dur- n.;l'h standard 80€S | newspa, asking | and Robsion will take his situation. It has been un lican leaders. But only one-third of the membership of the Senate is up for re-election this year, plus a few vacan- cies caused by death and resignation. The Democrats may pick up a few Sen- ate seats. But they also may drop one At present it looks as though mocrats would gain more seais in both houses of Congress than they ‘would lose. Both the Democrats and the Re- ublicans have their intraparty fights El the coming senatorial elections. Heflin in Alabama and Norris in Ne- braska, for example. But generally speaking the Republicans must go to the polls on the record of the Hoover administration. The attacks on the administration by the Democrats, therefore, are likely to be intensified from now until election day. . * ok ok ok President Hoover has appointed Sen- ator Sackett of Kentucky to be Am- bassador to Germany. is_opens up, first, the question over the Republican nomination for the Senate in the Blue Grass State, and second, the question of the election itself. Representative Robsion, Republican and Hoover leader in the State, is sald to be slated for appointment and also to make the race for the Senate mlm.':nu (‘her w:::x::y ca by the a) ent of ator Bl‘:ieedfi. zo mponlzn service. The rs are filled with auggmnns of an intraparty row among the Re- publicans of Kentucky, and it is re- ported that former Gov. Morrow may get into the race for the senatorial nomination against Robsion. Mrs. %orhn G. so“'hif dll;li;fhkl' of 5::“:; adley and wife of e Minister , 1s_sald to have senatorial aml But Robsion is believed to have the best chance for the nom- ination next year. Senator Sackett is expected back the first of the week. He will probably resign medmgly "This Kentucky seat in the Senate s one that the Democrats have been counting on winning next November. At present it looks as though their nom- inee would be Miles M. Logan of Louis- ville, former attorney general of the te. Democrats demonstrated t Fall, notwi 8 A5 cariier i sversiciming fasmion, & year ear! overw] X derstood that the Repub- ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDER, Did you ever write a letter to Fred- eric J. Haskin? You can ask him any question of fact and get the answer in a personal letter. Here is a great educational idea, introduced into the lives of .the most intelligent people in the world—American newspaper read- ers. It is a part of that best purpose of & newspaper—service. There is no charge except 2 cents in coin or stamps for return postage. Address Frederic J. Haskin, director, The Eve- ning Star Information Bureau, Wash- ington, D. C. Q. What is the largest Christmas wreath ever used?--N. McN, A. The largest of which we have record is the wreath in New York, weighing 1 ton, 20 feet in diameter, which is in the Grand Central Ter- minal. Fifty yards of red satin rib- I:ond are tled on it and 128 lights are used. Q. How far does the average 2-cent stamp travel?—W. W, F. A. Seven hundred miles has been appraxima‘ed :s the average trip of a 2-cent siamp. There has been no survey resulting in an exact figure, Q. Has Russia a navy and airplanes available for military use?—B. H. H. . While it is known that Russia has both, there are no figures available on either, Q. Was the telephone included in the exhibits of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876?—G. B, A. “Beginning of Telephony” says that it was exhibited and demonstrated at the exposition that Summer. The experiments of Alexander Graham Bell had been crowned with definite achieve- ment when in March, 1876, he made himself heard over a telephone wire for the first time. Q. Do porcupines throw their quills when frightened or fighting?—C. 0'Q. A. Porcupines do not throw off quills in fighting. The quills are loosely in- serted in the skin, and may when vio- lently shaken become detached—a cir- cumstance which probably gave rise to the purely fabulous statement that the animal can eject its quills, Q. Do Eskimos live in snow houses? —J. P, A. One-half of the Eskimos in the world have never seen a snow house, and only about one-fourth of them are in the habit of using them as common | dwellings in Winter. Snow houses are almost wholly absent from Alaska. In the McKenzie Delta they were used only in emergencies. From there eastward to the Atlantic they are the usual Win- ter dwellings, except in parts of Labra- dor. Of nearly 15,000 Eskimos in Green- | land today less than 500 have ever seen | & snow house. The only Greenlandic | snow house users are the small group around Cape York. These people even more commonly dwell in houses of earth, raftered with slabs of stone or| with the bones of large animals. Q. How many of the Chinese popu- . N. {lation live on the water?—J. A. A. Something more than 2,000,000 of the Chinese population of 425,000,000 live on water. ;O Little Town of Bethlehem"? A. Dr. Brooks wrote “O Little Town of Bethlehem” while living in Philadel- phia. The organist of his church set the hymn to music. The inspiration for the composition came to the organ- | “military seat,” Q. Where was Phillips Brooks when | | he wrote W IC J. HASKIN. be used in a Christmas “g.nm‘;w many Sing dsln(m prisoners rving sentences under the B, laws?—S8. A. 8. . 5 W A. It was reported recently that there are now 105 prisoners in Sing Sing serving terms of life imprisonment un- de: the Baumes laws, | Q. Why is the alphabet 50 named?— W. M. ist the night before the hymn was to program. | A"t takes its name from a combi- nation of alpha and beta, the first let- ters in the Greek alphabet. Q. Is the hij tal f K DT ppopotamus of any use? A. It tears up and eats the great plants and weeds that grow in rivers, thus acting as one of nature's great dredges, O. Are women more suscep! seasickness than men are?—o. A. Women as a rule suffer from sea- sickness more often than men. Young children and oid people possess come parative immunity from this affection. y nourishment in edi- H. N. tible to C. Q. Is there an; ble mushrooms? A. Mushrooms are a good source of vitamin B. Aslde from the vitamin content, the nutritive value of mush- rooms is small. What country has the oldest folk —C. R. Q. sonj A. This cannot be stated definitely, but the songs of Piedmont, Lombardy |and Tuscany, northern provinces in | Italy, are probably the oldest folk songs |in the world. Qé vsvhnl is the aurora borealis?— R.E. 8. A. The aurora borealis is a luminous | phenomenon seen usually at night in the Northern latitudes. It consists for the most part of long. slender beams of {light of various colors, which form an |arc in the heavens. Scientists believe that the gurora borealis is the result of | electrical discharge through the upper | regions of the atmosphere, though under | conditions not yet entirely understood. How did the phrase “The Lost use” become associated with the Con- ede! ?—T. M. A. “The Lost Cause” is a phrase | which became current through the title | of a history of the Civil War (1886) by E. A. Pollard. It 15 used as an expres- sion designaive for the purposes and alms whick the Southern people, through the war, vainly sought to real- ize in the permanent establishment of the Confedernte States of America. Q. Please define the riding terms “hunting seat” and “park seat.'—F. § A. Military, straight seat, with I stirrup; open seat, with shorter stirrup; park, the best-looking seat, more like a chair, riding easily with weight polsed on ball of feet and no stiffness, | Q. When Washington was planned, | had any city been built according to & |-preconceived plan?—S. J. | _A. No modern city has been designed |and executed on an unoccupled site. | The vision of Washington and L'En- | fant was of a city for 800,000 people, | the population at that time of London. | Q. How did the term “French leave" | originate?—A. H i A. This phrase came into use from the Prench custom of the eighteenth century of departing from a social gath- ering without taking leave of the host or hostess. Removal of the last of the important disputes over war debts is commented upon with satisfaction as approval is given by this country to the terms of settlement with France. American opinion seems to feel that the conditions established are fair to both countries, and assumes that plans for future rela- tions may be carried out with greater facility, which this question settled. | “The agreement with France may not be the end,” says the Oakland Tribune, “though it is apparent the American people hold to the view the negotiations are finished, and unless views are radi- | overtures of those groups who would have additional amounts wiped off the books. The debtor nations are making steady progress, improving their ca- pacity to pay, and it is a fact that large sums of American money have been in- vested in foreign bonds. Further talk of debt cancellation may only cause the suspicion that purchasers of these bonds are asking an American leniency to other nations in the interests of these investments.” . * ok ok X It is suggested by the Roanoke World- News that the action by this country the two nations that might have cre- ated unpleasantness at the coming con- ference on disarmament,” and that pay, rather than on the total of its borrowings from the United States dur- ing the war period.” That paper adds, “The American people would have to France's capacity to pay were it not for the truculent attitude of the French government in the matter of naval dis- armament.” ’ “Ratification of the debt settlement almost four years after it was negoti- ated.” Evening Bulletin, “is a solution, dictated by reason and common sense, of the most, difficult problem presented by the war obligations. * * * Americans in reviewing the course of debt negotia- tions now brought to an end are entitled to feel entire satisfaction with the prin- ciples which animated our negotiators and the results which have been achieved. * * But there has been no cancellation in any case of the prin- cipal or of the binding nature of the obligation, even when, in the case of Austria, a long-term moratorium was granted on the entire obligation. It has been a wholesome thing for the world, for the debtor nations, that the prin- ciple of the sanctity of international ob- Hg:tlum has been vindicated through- Gt * K K % Pointing out that the United States “borrowed money to make these loans," the St. Louis Globe-Democrat asserts that “by making them it greatly aided the Nation in war and greatly helped toward trfl:e restoration of some of them erward. tlous,” continues that paper, “which had to be recognized by us and by them if international financial relations were be continued upon a sound basis. The United States went as far as it was possible to make the terms easy—so far, as has here been noted, it did, in fact, cancel no small part of the as- sumed obligations, and in ho case did it insist upon more than the debtor could pay without danger to its internal eccnomy.” That the settlements have been fair is the contention of the San Antonio Express and the Wheeling Intelligencer. licans would have a terrific battle to keep the Senate seat next Fall. * K ok % g Senator “Pat” Sullivan, appointed by the Governor of Wyoming to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Sena- tor Francis E. Warren, is to remain in the Senate at least until next November. it now appears. When he was first sent here it was understood that he would serve only a month, and that i election would ,Puk s successor at the end of that period. But the State Legis- lature has now repealed a law dealing ‘with the matter ot filling vacancies, a0 the governor has the right to appoint until the next general election. Settlement of French Debt Believed Fair to Both Sides cally changed will not listen to the| “ends a point of controversy between | “this settlement was reached on a basis | of the supposed capacity of France to taken more kindly to the argument as | according to the Philadelphia | They were valid obliga-| | The Rochester Times-Union states that | “the debt commission has gone as fast and as far in liberalizing settlements as | public sentiment would permit,” and the |Fort Wayne News-Sentinel and the Kansas City Star emphasize the point |that German reparations more than | take care of the French payments to the United States and Great Britain. | The Fargo Forum says: “Just as it ‘was desirable from an economic stand- point to bring about a final reparation settlement, it has been desirable for | some time past to bring about final re- | funding settlements. Each nation in- volved is better able to take stock of its | finances and to plan its future.” A ‘The Fort Worth Star-Telegram offers I the verdict on the dispute now settled: “The European grousers who complain that the United States is demanding the last dollar in blood money from | France and the Americans who eon- | gratulate themselves that our Govern- | ment is making the French pay in full are equally wrong. On a conservative financing basis we have forgiven France three-fifths of the sum she owes us.” | Taking up the same topic, the Syra- |cuse Heraid is emphatic in the state- ment: “France bore the military brunt |of the World War. One-third of her territory was devastated: the total of her dead exceeded 1,800,000. Today, as Senator, Smoot, chairman of = the | finance committee, pointed out, her | burden of taxation, chiefly due to the war, is equal to 33 per cent of the na- tional income, as against our own 10 ' | per_cent.” 4 “The concessions made in the spirit « {of friendship and accommodation have : approval here,” according to i Newarl. Evening News. “France, ' sorely stricken by the great conflict, | turning & third of her national income | over to the tax gatherer, can accept the concessions without reproach, | chapter is one the closing of which | should bring mutual satisfaction.” “To say that the debts have ceased to be an issue in international politics,” |in the judgment of the Hartford Cous rant. “would be far from the truth. On the contrary, their justice and wisdom | 1s still & matter of dispute, and will be perhaps until they are superseded by an arrangement for liquidating all the financial obligations created by the war, | reparations as well as debts, With the | agreements completed, the time may not be far off when the whole matter (il demand resettlement in a new light."” S L Postmaster General Frowns on Stamp Fad From the Schenectady Gazette. Postmaster General Brown does well to decide there shall not be commemo- rative issues of postage stamps on every concejvable occasion—there have been 00 many of them in the past few years, | One can understand the delight of | stamp collectors at frequent new issues —they enlarge collections at slight cost. |And as a rule a commemorative stamp is more sttractive in appearance than a regular one. ut why should there be a special issue for the 341st anniversary of the discovery of the Schoharie River, in- stead of the 350th or 400th? Or for any such anniversary? ‘The 500th or 600th anniversary of the discovery of America might ibly * be interpreted as a fitting occas| for that was an event of world-wide impor- | tance. But so far as most of the sug- | gestions for special issues go, they have | dealt with local events, or with those | of passing national interest. ‘ roups are at work constantly seek- | ing sanction for commemorative stamps. | They are active and persistent. Post- master General Brown may have made Some enemies by his decision. On the other hand, the unquestioned majority of our body politic frowns upon fads of this kind. r———- Works Both Ways. Prom the Miami Datly News. ‘The doctor who says all men are for- getful evidently never borrowed any money. .