Evening Star Newspaper, January 6, 1930, Page 8

A—S8 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday M Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY.. .January 6, 1930 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .Editor The Evening Star Ni jper Company Business Office: B hat ke Mickiean Bunaiis. ice; 14 Regent 8t.. London. England, Rate by Carrier Within the +4: - .45¢ Ler wonth ine Star. " 60c per month Btar, City. ) unday’ Orders may be National 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia, 7 and Sunday. .00: 1 g:fi o inday’ only *: All Other ally and Sunday..1 iy only - 1y unday only this paper and also the local published herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. An Important Session. The Seventy-first Congress squared away today for its long, regular ses- sion, the session which in the life of every Congress is devoted to general legislation and the session upon which the administration must rely for action upon its recommendations. The Christ- mas holidays are behind the present Congress. The session is likely to last for six months or more and to be an active one, with politics vying with legislative work for the spotlight. The Seventy-first Congress is no stranger to Washington. It met first in April on call of President Hoover to deal with farm relief legislation and the tariff. Had there been no call of & special session and had Congress as- sembled for its first session in Decem- ber, a very different situation would be presented today. Much water has run over the dam since last April, and much has been accomplished, despite the critics of the administration and the Congress. In the first place, the most far- reaching and effective measure in the interests of agriculture has been writ- ten into law and its operations have already benefited the farmers of Amer- ica to a great degree. Had there been no special session, the Congress would now be facing a long wrangle over that measure, and the farmers would be ‘waiting, patiently or impatiently, for the Government to do something. In the second place, the tariff revision bill is now in a position where it should be passed by the Senate in four or five weeks and sent to conference. Un- doubtedly the wisdom of the call of the special session has been ‘demon- strated. It is true that Western and Eastern Republicans have fallen out over the tariff. But they would have fallen out in any event, and the probabilities are that the G. O. P. will now go into the congressional campaign this year with & tariff revision law on the statute books, instead of a bill pending in Con- gress, as might have been the case had no special session been held. ‘The Congress has a considerable program ahead. It has at least one constructive measure behind it, under- taken since the opening of the regular session in December at the instance of President Hoover, the tax reduction law. In addition to dealing with the tariff bill, the Congress will be called upon to enact legislation to aid 1 the enforcement of prohibition, upon rec- ommendation of the President and his Law Enforcement Commission. The question of prohibition enforcement has been agitated vigorously in recent weeks and is likely to lead to much debate on Capitol Hill, if not to a congres- sional inquiry. Further legislation is needed, it is #aid, to bring about the consolidation of rallroads. Amendments to the flood control act must be put through. In the Senate, if time permits, the ad- herence of the United States to the | World Court, under the revised statutes of that tribunal, may come up for con- sideration and action, ‘The Congress, too, will await with keen interest the results of the London Conference on naval limitation. Upon the results of that conference will hinge the character of some of the legislation which the present Congress must enact. It is the expectation of many of the leaders that treaties deal- ing with naval armament will grow out of the conference, and these treaties doubtless will be submitted promptly to the Senate for its approval. It is a full program, therefore, which awaits the legislators. An election, coming in November, will be a strong factor in bringing about as early an adjournment as possible. All the mem- bers of the House must stand for re- election and one-third of the Senate. ‘The candidates for re-election will feel the need of being on the ground to make their* campaigns. They must, however, go to their constituencies with as formidable a record of accomplish- ment as possible to recommend them for renomination and re-election. —————. As a preliminary to service, a certain few agents assigned to the pursuit of | Tum runners should be required to sign | » total abstinence pledge. ——e— The Starling War. Washington's war upon the starlings is verging on the ridiculous. Indeed, there has from the outset of the cam- Paign been something rather comical in the contest, with the birds having all the better of the fray. First water was tried, squirted through fire hose with heavy pressure. The birds twittered and fluttered and hopped away to other roosts. The firemen could not detach and reattach their hose lines fas} enough to catch them in close forma- tion. This lasted for a short while, and then another trick was tried. Strips of glass were tied to the upper limbs of the trees most thickly infested by the birds, with the idea that the flashes and tinklings would disturb the starlings and frighten them away, or render their rest so difficult that they would seek quieter quarters. The starlings appeared clared without prospect of eventual peace. The starlings multiplied, swept to and fro, found new quarters, aban- doned them, displayed their exigent tastes in housing facilities, demonstrated their gregarious habit, adopted building ledges, spread their|favors undiscrimi- natingly. And eventually some one cried for help loudly enough to start the war affesh. It has been waged now for several weeks, and the net result is merely that some of the trees in the starling belt have lost a few of their upper branches—cut off in the ruthless campaign of elimination—and some downtown buildings have gained a few thousand more nightly front wall tenants as the jocund birds have sniffed the smudge pots that succeeded water, bells and saw as the artlllery of the municipality. . A census of the starlings cannot well be taken. Some specialist in counting bacteria through a microscope may possibly estimate the number by means of binoculars, perhaps with photographic experiments. But the trouble is that the same flock of starlings, sweeping through the sky of an evening, on their pre-bedtime flights, may be counted several times. Suppose there are ten thousand of them in the war zone, the area between Ninth and Fifteenth streets, along Pennsylvania avenue, That number will give all the firemen and the saw wielders and the glass fitters and the smudge pot experts of the Dis- trist Government plenty to do, and will probably survive the assault by ninety- five per cent. Suppose traps were tried, large, luring bird traps, into which the starlings were coaxed by the display of, specially delectable fcod? The pestilential birds could then be sorted out from the birds worth saving and executed in a lethal chamber. As long as the war is on ft might as well be waged ruthlessly. — et New Schools. ‘With the opening today of the new Adams Elementary School, at Columbia road and Nineteenth street northwest, ‘Washington's overcrowded public school system will begin to feel some of that relief promised by provision of new scheol buildings during the 1929-1930 school terms. The Adams is the first of four new buildings opening their doors between now and the middle of March. The Adams will take care of pupils from the Morgan School, the latter later to be enlarged by an eight-room addi- tion and turned over to colored students. It will also receive seventh and eighth grade puplils from the old Force School, on Massachusetts avenue, between Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets, destined soon to receive students from the ancient Adams, at Seventeenth and R streets, which is to be closed, having been recommended for abandonment some years previous to the birth of many of its recent graduates. Closely following the opening of the new Adams, the Paul Junior High, the Langdon Elementary and the W. B. Powell Elementary will receive pupils. The Paul Junior High, at Concord ave- nue and Eighth street northwest, will relieve conditions in the Brightwood Junior High Annex, the Macfarland Junior High and the Takoma and Keene Elementary Schools. The Langdon will replace the old frame building at Twen- tieth and Franklin streets northeast, and the W. B. Powell, at Fourteenth and Upshur, will take students from that general neighborhood. Some of the congestion in the cen- tral northwest portion of the city and in sections served by Georgia avenue northwest and Rhode Island avenue northeast is thus being relieved. But the reduction of the total of new class rooms needed to eliminate portable schools, reduce overcrowded and part- time classes and abandon unsuitable buildings, is, relatively speaking, small. Despite the volume of letters and statements emitted recently in explana- tion of the failure of Congress or the failure of somebody else to reach the fine objectives outlined for the five- year school building program, Wash- ington as & whole feels that had there been as earnest and as consistent an ef- fort to build more schools as there has been to explain why more schools have not been built, the school system would be better off than it is today. Instead of endeavoring to become highly en- comiastic -over the opening of a few schools, Washington and Congress should be exchanging congratulations and compliments today on the fact that the Capital of the world's richest Na- tion provides a seat for every school child every day in the school year, and does it without overcrowding class rooms, overburdening teachers, or re- quiring children to take the leftover morsels of the school day when and where they can be found. Unfortunately for Washington, that condition of affairs remains a desid- eratum and not a fact. The goal re- mains still far in front. SR e, Talents are often sadly misapplied. The cleverness shown in making an explosive package to deal indiscriminate destruction represents a wasted earning capacity. — s a— Radio and Quackery. Gratifying signs of the willingness of operators of radio broadcasting sta- tions to bar quack medical programs from dissemination by radio come from New York, where more than forty broad- casters have pledged the commissioner of health of the metropolis to avold questionable programs of a medical na- ture and have suggested the appoint- ment of a committee of authorities to pass on the merits of doubtful appli- ances or remedies seeking advertising time on the air. It is only a fortnight sincc Dr. Shirley W. Wynne, the New York co..missioner of health, wrote the Federal Radio Commission, asking that the commis- slon take some action to bar medical advertisements of fraudulent nature from the air. The commission has taken Dr. Wynne's letter under con- sideration, although it is not able, by its own interpretation of radio law, to censor radio programs. The commis- sion, however, may find it expedient “in public interest and convenience” to withhold the applications for renewal of station license to those radio station operators who permit use of their facili- ties for quack medical advertising. Dr. Wynne was asked by representa- to thrive on the dainty vibrations of the glass and to enjoy the flashes from the trembling surfaces. The trees thus treated became more thickly populated than ever. Then there was respite Rrmistice seemingly ha THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTO THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. agencies to confer with him on organi- zation and personnel of the proposed committee of medical authorities. The matter is one of extreme impor- tance in so far as the gullibility of the radio public is concerned. If fraudulent claims are permitted advertising time on the air, some persons are certain to take them seriously. The possibility of fraud and chicanery is too great to per- mit extension of quackery. Now is the time to stop it, before it has gone too far, The Man Without an Audience. William B. Shearer, lately much in evidence before the country as the ob- ject of an investigation by a Senate committee regarding his activities at Geneva and his financial relations with certain shipbuilding corporations, has now learned that public curiosity is un- dependable as a basis of revenue. While he was in the limelight of senatorial inquisition he was the subject of a con- siderable public interest. But he had his day on the stage of national attention and it passed. Shearer did not realize how fickle the public is in this respect. He had to have an object lesson to con- vince him. He provided it himself. He hired Carnegie Hall in New York City and announced that on the night of Sunday, the 5th of January, he would give the “inside story” of the Geneva naval limitation conference and of his activities in behalf of national defense. Wide publicity was given to the an- nouncement as a-news jtem. Last night the lecture was delivered to an audience of 350 persons, one-half of whom, it is understood, handed the doorkeepers complimentary tickets, Probably the 175 who paid for their seats were in a mood to demand their money back be- cause, although the lecturer had prom- ised to give some inside information, he merely recited the already well known facts, developed at the Senate inquiry, and widely broadcast by printed reports throughout the country. The plain and simple fact is that Mr. Shearer has nothing more to say than he has already said, and that the public is not concerned in him, even if he had. The only point of interest in the dis- course last night in New York was the statement by the speaker that he does ot intend to go to the London confer- ence on naval limitation. Which simply means that nobody has offered to pay his expenses and fee as “observer.” The market price of Shearer, Ltd., has fallen to the vanishing point. ———— It is generally believed that 1930 will be a good year for business. This bellef does not carry with it any encourage- ment to margin speculation, which, strictly speaking, is not classified as regular business. ——————————— Numerous cities are demanding more economical methods in public affairs. They are not quite in step with the experts in finance who are favoring a larger popular purchasing capacity. Economy is necessary, but it needs good management. * ——— e ‘The current year will claim a place in history as an era of tax reduction. It should attain honor in the minds of the public even beyond that which attaches to the splendors of conquest. —_———————— Many able men like to read detective stories. The supply of sleuth fiction has become 80 enormous that it would be encouraging to regard it as indi- cating a supply of able mep. A Demands for law enforcgment are so earnest that some method should soon be discovered for a prompt and reliable means of accomplishing the praise- worthy end. ‘Wall Street reports that “money is easy.” The guessing, however, is as hard as ever. ———————— A bomb planter reverts to the type of savagery that spares neither women nor children. I SR Nebraska has developed a determina- tion to give Senator Norris a hard fight, even if it has to call in the Army. ——— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Same Old Year. Just the same old sunny day; Or the same old cloud! Here's a lonely shadow gray— There's a laughing crowd. Now & message brings a smile, ‘Then there comes a tear. Changing every little while, It's the same old year. New acquaintance will unfold Promise to the view. ‘These may fail, while friendships old Faithtul prove and true. Though we spoke of future dreams With a song of cheer, In a few short days it seems Just the same old year. Arts of Oratory. “What do you intend to say about the tarifr?” “I haven’t made up my mind,” answered Senator Sorghum. “I dom’t know whether to try to make the sub- ject clear or to express myself in lan- guage that no one will take the trouble to understand.” Jud Tunkins says he takes so much good advice that he has trouble paying for all the wonderful things salesmen persuade him to buy. Extensive Undertaking. There are so many laws, T'll do a perfect part If lengthily I'll pause To learn them all by heart! Not in Receptive Mood. “I can tell you how to make a hundred thousand dollars in the stock market!” “Don’t do it,” pleaded the weary- looking citizen. “Listening to that kind of conversation is what caused me to say farewell to my last seven hundred and fifty dollars.” “Wealth,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “brings fear of loss that offsets the happiness of possession.” New Number. Old Nineteen Twenty-nine slipped by tives of several stations to supply them with authoritative health talks to aid in public health work, and announced that he will get in touch with the And Nineteen Thirty greets the eye. ‘The earth speeds on; it cannot lag, And gets a grand new license tag. “A politician,” said Uncle Eben, “has United States Public Health Service in | 8 Way of convincin' me dat he kin worry a time, an ' Washington and various State health 'bout my troubles dan Ikin do it beep de- departments in the Eest, urging thess foh mysell” : It is one of the pleasures of reading to note in different authors, writing at different times and in various countries, the same thoughts, perhaps given differ- ent shades of meaning, but the same in essence. We quoted here the other day a sen- tence from America’s Emerson to the effect that it is best for one to think well of the world, and thus to “make the world one lives in.” The keynote of that sentence is sim- plicity of heart and mind. Much the same may be met with in one of Guy de Maupassant's short stories. That excellent cynic knew humanity. Even he recognized' the existence of men and women who are simple of heart, good by nature, who permit themselves to be “taken in” by the shrewd, the cun- ning and the cruel of earth. Reading in one of Emile Zola’s nov- els, “The Fortune of the Rougons,” we ;:enme across the following good sen- nce: “He was one of the simple-minded, one whose simplicity was divine, and who had remained on the threshold of the temple, kneeling before the tapers Wt&;lch rom a distance he took for stars.” Emerson, Maupassant, Zola—three as diverse characters as ever lived, yet each testifying to the need which hu- manity has for the genuinely simple- m . The American sage declared that if one thought well of the world he thus necessarily forsook the world of experience and made the world he lives in. The bitter French master of the short story put a tinge of wishing into his thought when he pointed out the dif- ference between the two types of char- acters, those who are selfless and those who are selfish. One might almost swear that the writer wished he could be a member o*r the former group. * k% The American philosopher dealt more in abstractions, telling us that the mere act of thinking well of the world (and necessarily of the things and people in the world) would enable us to live in a world of our own making. ‘The French novelist, as might be ex- pected of such a realist, contented him- self with a flat statement. The man he spoke of “was one of the simple- minded.” His simplicity was divine. “He had remained on the threshold of the temple, kneeling before the tapers \gich rom a distance he took for stats.” The realist outdoes, in our estima- tion, the phiiosopher and the sophisti- cated cynic. He puts his finger exactly on the glory of simplicity. In an age when scientific research was just com- ing to itself, Zola realized the necessity for the simple-minded character in & complete world of human beings. No scientist is content to remain on the threshold of the temple. He goes inside as far as he may—that is why he sees tapers as tapers, and not as stars. ‘The simple-minded, however, are con- tent to stay on the outside, and to see the tapers as gleaming worlds of mag. If they see them as such, are they not exactly so to them? This is the point where realist and dreamer part; being such, it may do well to examine it more closely, as there will never be any hope later of bringing the two together. ‘The point of divergence is the very essence of simplicity. Hard, clever, un- scrupulous men .like to think that the “simple-minded” are fools. Why, they choose to see stars! Therefore, are they not fools? * ok % The essence of the simple-minded is the desire to believe. Such a one would rather believe and be wrong, than doubt and be right. Who would say that they are wrong? That is why men of d cent mind are willing to make no tempt to convert another on any sul ject, once they see that the other is set in his opinion. D. ‘The desire to believe is the thresh- old of the temple; belief is the temple itself. Those who desire to belleve see tapers as stars, those who believe see stars, but both see—stars. Naturally, those who cannot see stars take little stock in those who can. The sneerers stand on the temple steps and say, “Why, those are not stars; they are cane ‘The simple minded will declare, “They look like stars to me.” This is a futile and end- less argument, and right-minded men of all ages have realized it. They gen- erally end by admiring the believers, as Emerson, Maupassant, Zola did. One is drawn around irresistibly to the belief that love is better than hate, kindness than cruelty, belief than dis- belief, optimism than pessimism. The saddest trait in human nature is that belief has so often resulted in hate, cruelty. Just why this is we leave to the psychologists.” Whatever the opin- fon may be, there would seem to be no necessity that ire should spring from a belief in love. 'l'hounn&r e’ men and women have believed strongly and made that belief work itself out in terms of love. Perhaps these have been the simple minded. Another fact seems to be that the terms of love may be adopted by those who know nothing about love itself, just as the phrases of humility may be mouthed by men the direct antithesis of humble. . wn Simplicity and humility are not syn- onyms, The former may or may not contain in itself humility, and so is inclusive or exclusive of the other, as the case may be. The simple-minded man or woman takes a direct, fresh interest in life, unencumbered by two considerations which continually harry those of a different temperament. = They never think “What am I going to get out of this?” nor “Is ghis the way to do for the best net return?” Thus the simple-minded come a great deal nearer being satisfled and content in a world which seems bent c&emetullly on making every one_ dissatisfled with what he is, does or has. The simple ones of earth take men and things as they appear, at their face value, and so much the worse for men and things if they are false. ‘This is a teaching of the wise men of all ages. The danger is not to those who are deceived, but to those who de- ceive. The gift is to the giver, and goes back most to him; the hurt is to the hurter, and hurts him r.ost of all. Aside from the simpie-minded ones the earth is made up principally of those who are “slick” and those who like to imagine that they are. By “slickness” we mean no particularly large amount of cleverness, but just so much of the crass, ugly ability to outdo another which mainly distinguishes mankind from the beasts. It should be inted out that the “slickers” and the “would-be slickers” never “put over” on the simple-minded one-half as much as they give them- selves credit for. It is the easiest way out for the others to admit themselves “taken in.” Half the crude cleverness upon which men pride themselves is simply a lack of desire on the part of victims to con orally or physically. ‘The accent has been placed at a dif- ferent point in life by the simple-mind- ed. Gain is not one of his accents, out- doing another not one, hurting another not one. His accents are love, beauty, helpfulness, the truth. In the pursuit of these he must expect to meet mock- ery, since that seems to be a part of life, too. He must solace himself with the knowledge that a realist, a dreamer | turn, himself, once wrote of him: “He was one of the simple-minded, one whose simplicity was divine, and who had re- mained on the threshold of the temple, kneeling before the tapers which from a distance he took for stars.” WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS Exceptional perplexities and embar- rassments appear to attach to appoint- ments_to membership on the Inter- state Commerce Commissin in recent years. Mr. Coolidge had share and Mr. Hoover seems to be having more than his share. Seldom is a President faced with the task of deciding as to three of the nine places on the com- mission, all at one time. That has been Mr. Hoover's problem these last few weeks. The reappointment or Commissioner Eastman proved no easy decision, though a decision which the country loudly acclaimed. Having con- cluded not to reappoint Commissioner Taylor of Alabama, a Coolidge selec- tion, the President wrestled long with the field of aspirants, “nally to nomi- nate Robert M. Jones of Tennessee, upon the urgent recommendation ot Republican National Chairman Huston. The Senate shied away from immediate confirmation and, for reasons best known to himself, Mr. Jones has now declined the appointment. Meantime the resignation of Commissioner Camp- bell is announced. Candidates from Southern territory whose hopes were dashed when the Jones nomination went to the Senate have taken new heart, and candidates from the Rocky Mountain States have appeared &s if by magic for the place vacated by Mr. Campbell. In this situation Mr. Hoover is keeping his own counsel and the Senate, which will act as final arbiter, is watchfully waiting. * o K ¥ Senator Couzens will take the first opportunity to correct the statement he made in the Senate last month when the confirmation of Interstate Com- merce Commissioner Joseph B. Eastman of Massachusetts was up, to the effect that Mr. Eastman “was a Democrat, had always been a Democrat” and had consistently voted for Democratic presi- dential nominees. The commissioner has written Senator Couzens that he is not a Democrat, never was a Demo- crat and has always been an “inde- pendent” in politics, voting for what- ever candidates most nearly stood for Eastman’s own views. As proof of his independence Mr. Eastman in his letter to Senator Couzens cites the fact that he voted for La Follette in 1924. Except for 1924 it appears that he has voted for the Democratic nominee. Senator Couzens, in vouching for Eastman’s po- litical affiliations in the first instance, relied on White House information, which was emphatically to the effect that the commissioner was a Democrat. * koK ok Eloquent testimony to the importance and magnitude of the contemplated operations of the Farmers' National Grain Corporation is contained in the announcement that the salary of the corporation’s general manager, Willlam G. Kellogg of Minneapolis, will be $36,- 000 per annum. In the light of the congressional state of mind when dealing with compensation of business executives engaged for Government service, Mr. Kellogg may have rea- son to congratulate himself that his stivend is beyond congressional reach. However, if and when the operations of the Farm Board through its financed and supervised sales corporations come under congressional fire a $36,000 sal- ary is sure to be a shining target, * ok Kk Along with the sending of Nelson T. Johnson, veteran of the State Depart- ment service at home and abroad, to China as United States Minister, other important shifts in our representation in China are slated at this important juncture in Far Eastern affairs. Col. Nelson E. Margetts has been named military attache at Pexftnfa. and Lieut. Col. Walter S. Drysdale the newly appointed commander of the American garrison at Tientsin. Col. Margetts is of the Field Artillery branch and Col. Drysdale of Infantry. Minister John son has taken his farewells of Wash- and is now en route to the West Coast to set sail across the Pacific later B, T T s exhibition of historic presidential glass- ware on display in museum cases in the lower apartments of the White House, where the tourist throngs roam at will. Some of the decanters, punch bowls and wine glasses which graced the tebles of bygone Presidents have been moved to a less conspicuous cupboard, less apt to offend the prohibitionist’s eyes. It is &elmnent to recall in this connection t George Washington's wine bottles still occupy a_ prominent place in the dining room at Mount Ver- non despite intermittent protests from the radical drys, who are distressed to have the youth of the country reminded that the Father of OQur Country was not a teetotaler. * W ok ok Senator Bingham of Connecticut miss- ed his annual globe-trotting excursion last Summer due to the exigencies of tariff legislation, in which he figured with unwitting prominence. For the Summer of 1930 erudite New Eng- lander, whose long suit is exact infor- mation and first-hand knowledge, pro- poses to_travel to the Island of Samoa in the South Pacific for the declared purpose of determining ways and means to give the half of Samoa which is now governed by the United States an or- ganic act of government of its own. Britain rules the other half of the is- land. There is some dispute as to which half fares best. If plans for the trip go through, others in Congress will ac- company Bingham, the party compris- ing an official mission. * % * The Princess Elaine von Der Lipe- Lipski, whose exploits have figured more than once in the newspapers at the capital, has a new claim to fame, $bis time in'the scientific field. She is the reciplent of a United States patent just issued. The Patent Office designates the princess’ invention a “Means for Pre- serving Perishable Goods in Storage and ‘Transit.” From the descriptive text of the patent grant, it appears that the vacuum principle of the familiar ther- mos bottle has been extended to design & more sizable sealed container with vacuum walls. Smirking at Moderns Is Called Dangerous Prom the Springfield, Mass., Union, From the New York State Federa- tion of Women's Clubs the masculine members of the race have received warning that they must mind their own business in the matter of long or short skirts or else take the conse- quences of their rash and unwelcome meddling, As the federation puts it, “The male sex, which are grinni from ear to ear at the advent of the new styles and the apparent relinquish- ment of the freedom which the fair sex won after a long fought battle, faces the possibility of having the smirk removed.” This scems to carry a dire threat, no less impressive because it is some- what vague and velled. ‘The “possi- bility of having the smirk removed” may mean much or little, but evidently it means something and just what that something is the determined women of the New York Federation of Wom- en's Clubs are for the present keep- ing entirely to themselves. The male biped who values his smirk should, therefore, be a bit discreet in his public display of it, especially when he meets the famillar symbols of that freedom draped under the folds of a new-style skirt, At least, if he feels that he must smirk, he had better be prepared for a hasty flight from the zone of pos- sible danger.. He who smirks and runs away may live to smirk another day, but heaven only knows what may" hap- pen to the haj male smirker who recklessly stands his ground. Justifiable Larceny. Prom the Tulsa World. 11 radio machines o get them test the matter, either | W C., MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 1930. Starlings Have a Right To Live Undisturbed To the Editor of The Star: - Fair play as a right, not as a favor, I ask for the starlings, defenseless feathered creatures, made by God. But a nuisance must be removed, the people say. I beg to ask on what grounds? Is it because they come in @ trusting way at the close of day dur- ing a few months of the year, choosing a sheltered resting place in the trees, lor on the buildings, apparently without fear of man? But they make such a racket and noise, in a chorus, we hear. What of that? It does not last long, only until each feathered atom has found a chosen place where he can tuck his little feet under the warmth of his folded wings. But_they bespatter the tops of our parked automobiles! Are they respon- stble for that? No! They had nothing to do with parking the cars, besides the dirt can be washed off, but one killed starling cannot be replaced by man. God made them, so that we are clearly responsible for their protection. Let us cease this hue and cry for their demolition, because for a few hours each night during the cold Win- ter months, from the beginning of November to the beginning of March, from twilight till dawn, they come to seek a resting place, and because we don't understand the important place they, the starlings, faithfully fill in the great scheme of things, every day all through the 12 months of the year, without any assistance whatever from g. t}!m cry goes forth, Kill them! Kill em ‘To pause and try to understand their usefulness would be far better. We city dwellers cannot often, some of us never, enjoy the wonders of the coun- try and the fascinating outdoor marvels where Nature carries out her ceaseless plan for the good of human kind. Each one of these friendly starlings has a place and work to do in this plan of the universe. Springtime comes and they are gone. During the wintry months do not begrudge them lodging from dusk to dawn. The starlings do not ask us to feed them. They forage for their own needs every day. Do not seek their destruction. God made them; they are under our protection. Accord fair play. There must be a need of every one of them, or we would not have them with us. We cannot run counter to the great plan of whicn they are a needed part, without frus- trating the worth and good of it all, which, in the final analysis, brings the greatest happiness to man. Fair play for the starlings as friends! . barbed try D T sty Joat GOt s mace: | issued to Joseph F. Glidden of De Kalb, and which man has not the power restore. ETHEL JANE RULE. o Left-hand Turn Here Declared Ridiculous To the Editor of The Star: Your editorial in The Star of Janu- ary 2 concerning the left-hand turn situation in this city was splendid. Such & ridl regulation is deplorable in a city of this type where there are so many thousands of tourists. It is al- most maddening for the motorists who are driving about Washington constant- ly. It is not only the tourists who do not understand the Washington left- hand turn but hundreds of drivers in n and vicinity cannot keep ‘To Pennsylvania avenue at certain times of the day and have one motorist make a left-hand turn from the middle of the street and have an officer suddenly step out into the middle of the street to control traffic and have the next motorist have to scramble over to the right side of the street in order to m: a left-hand is certainly a dangerous situation. It is not any wonder when we have guests from other cities that we have to stand for a lot of “razzing” for our traffic regulations. I have driven in all the large cities in the country and have never experienced the disgust I have in my own fair city of Washington. GOLDIE D. HUTC! Electric Fans Proposed To Drive Out Starlings To the Editor of The Star: If you permit me, I shall give you an idea about the “starling warfare.” “Smudge pots” will spoil the building’s facade, “load of buckshot” also, and moreover are dangerous. I am almost sure that some “electric fan” rightly placed, will give the best result, because of disturbing effects, against “moth” with real success. J. REHBOCK. Survival of Fittest In War Is Denied From the Cincinnatt Times-Star. In dedicating a fireplace in a fra- ternity house to the memory of Joyce Kilmer, Prof. John Erskine recently said that had Kilmer lived he would today be the greatest of living poets. It is a statement, truly, that no one can affirm or deny. It belongs to the cate- gory of fulsome praise that such an oc- casion almost justifies. Whether Joyce Kilmer would have proved our greatest poet if he had Jived is a question on which there could be only moot argument. It is akin to the question of how much greater Keats would have become if tuberculosis had not terminated his career at 25 years. Joyce Kilmer was a graceful poet of much promise, and his death at an early age brings home poignantly to us the great loss the world suffered in the sacrifice of so many young men during the war. We shall feel that loss in all the arts and sclences throughout the present generation and, in truth, during generations to come. War has a way of taking the most promising youth of a nation. The brave and the impulsive are the first to reach the front and the first to be consumed in the fires of war. What a change would have been wrought in English literature if Shakes- peare had gone to sea Wwith one of the great Elizabethan sea dogs in his youth and had been killed in action. Our lan- guage would have been robbed of its greatest possession. But. we do not know that a greater than Shakespeare may not have been sacrificed by Fate. It is difficult to appreciate the great loss to literature if Milton had been forced to mount the scaffold after the return of the Stuarts to the English throne. English literature would have been deprived of “Paradise Lost,” which directed the main current of poetry for ing | a century and a half. Yet a Cavaller or Roundhead of greater poetic poten- tiality than Milton may have been killed at Naseby or in Marsion Moor. ‘The fate of young men who are pre- vented by war from realizing their rich promise is more tragic than that of the village Hampden or the mute Milton of Grey’s “Elegy.” The village Hampden and the mute Milton had their oppor- tunity, but preferred rustic obscurity. A man like Joyce Kilmer was frustrated b{ death from giving to his generation all that life had apparently given to him. War in which death is admin. istered with prodigal hand by men to g‘t::stu far from being a survival of the e The Better Role. Pt;:x :u Toledo Blade. more blessed to give than to be held up at the point of a gun. Bruin Did His Bit. From the Akron Beacon Journal. mm:‘lfln );(r" lv{ellon llthhe credit 5 3 Al ;:3 929 income es. A Sure-Fire Forecast. Prom the Worcester Bvening Gazette. Snow or rain, man. He absolutely ble R Sogwax s o clawr, ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. This is & tfih\ department devoted solely to the ndllng of queries. This paper puts at your di the services of an extensive ol tion in Wash- ington to serve you in any capacity that relates to information. This serv- ice is free. Failure to make use of it deprives you of benefits to which you are entitl Your obligation is only 2 cents in coin or stamps inclosed with your inquiry for direct reply. Address The Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C. Q. What_production started Vernon Castle on the road to success?—W.S. T. A. A small dance part in “The Girl Behind the Counter,” given to_the late dancer and aviator by Lew Fields in 1907, was the beginning of Vernon Cas- tle's career. Q. How many buildings in Washing- ton, D. C., are owned by the Govern- ment? How many are rented?—R. E. S. A. There are 105 Government-owned buildings, exclusive of the Executive Mansion, the Capitol, the Senate and House Office Buildings, the Capitol Power Plant and the Library of Con- ss, in Washington, D. C. Fifty-two {ldings are rented in Washington by the Federal Government. The annual rental is $1,210,335.83. Q. Why aren’t trucks made of a light material, like aluminum, thereby reduc- ing the weight of the machine and permitting the engine to carry a heavier load?—M. M. O. A. It has not been practical commer- clally. The time is near at hand when such trucks will be practical and when rallroad cars can be built of aluminum at a saving in weight without exorbi- tant rise in price. Q. Are there presentations at_the Dutch Court as there are at the Eng- lish?—H. M. 8. 8. A. The Dutch Court has only occa- 8| presentations. It does not have the regular presentations that are held in England. Q. What is the standing of ILola Ridge?—W. C. A. She is one of possibly three woman poets who hold first rank in this country. Q. How long has barbed wire been manufacturede—R. L. M. g A, The practical , beginning of the ‘wire indus ‘was in the patent I, in 1874. patent was issued for barbed fence wire. During the same year a patent was issued to Mr. Glid- den and Phineas W. Vaughan having & machine to manufacture it. The de- velopment of the barbed wire industry was accelerated by the introduction of the mild steel. The approximate pro- duction in the United States, showing figures of the years indicated, is as fol- : 1874, 5 tons; 1880, 40,000 tons; 200,000 tons; 1924, 200,000 tons; Q. How long has the M litan Opera House been at Thirty-ninth and Broadway?—G. V. H. A. It was opened on October 22, 1883, at its present location. How many Negroes are there in m?UmM States Navy?—F. J. A. There are 700 at,the present time. does Watts' painting, ify?—I. G. prevails under even the most adverse circumstances. Q. Is hair dyeing a dangerous prac- tice?—E. B. A. Dyes, like other chemical com- should be handled by experts and are dangerous when used by inex- perienced operators. tin* - written V?2—K. V. 8. . The letter U is a form of V, with * hich it was formerly used interchange- ably. In the eleventh century V came to be used by preference as the capital form. In dictionaries they Were not given separate alphabetical positions until 1800. The V form is still fre- quently used in inscriptions. Q. TIs Evelyn a girl's name or a boy's name?—A. M. T. It is both. In America ‘oyl are seldom called Evelyn, but in England boys often bear this name. Q. Why is holystone so called?—H. 8. A. The word holystone denotes & plece of soft stone used in scrubbing decks. The term is supposed to be de- rived from the fact that decks were usually scrubbed on Saturday as a preparation for Sunday inspection, church, etc.; hence, the phrase, holy- stone and holystoning. Q. Please define a spy.—M. H. L. A. The principal characteristic of this offense is a cladestine dissimulation of the true object sought, which object is an endeavor to obtain information with the intention of communicating it to the hostile party. Q. What is Helen Keller's denomina- tional affiliation”—W. M. T. A. Miss Keller i 5 Swedenborgian. Q. Who has supervision over the wa- ters of the Rio Grande and Colorado River which flow in both Mexican and American territory?—L. N. A. The International Water Com- mission, United States and Mexico, has been appointed to work out a plan pro- viding for the equitable division of the waters of the Rio Grande, Colorado River and Tia Juana River, streams which flow on both sides of the inter- national boundary. Q. What is the name of the man who taught Charles Francis Adams, Secretary of the Navy, to sail a boat?— C. A L. A. Bill Gavin of Quincy, Mass, is sald to have taught Secretary Adams to manage a sailboat. Q. Is there a demand for laborers for plantations in Hawaii?—C. R. A. The Department of Commerce says that in Hawail the supply of native labor is plentiful for work on the plan- tations. The wages are much lower than those received in this country. Q. What organization is offering & prize for the best hymn on peace—J. A. The Hymn Society, a national or- ganization of hymn writers and com- posers, will award a $100 prize for the best hymn on peace. An announcement made recently by the president of the society, Dr. Benjamin S. Winchester, was to the effect that the contest would close on May 1, 1930. The hymns may be sent to Miss Caroline Parker, 353 Fourth avenue, New York City. Q. th“ makes a comet have a tall? A. The Naval Observatory says that the tail is composed of matter ejected by the comet under the influence of tion | the radiation of the sun and, of course, e wfich the dominant quality of hope, Bay State Tests more abundantly the nearer the comet gets to the sun. % for Drivers Offer New Field of Research ‘Tendency to look upon the new and rigid tests for automobile drivers which have been adopted by Massachusetts as offering & fleld for research is shown in other States. These examinations, which are uired in connection with the issuing of licenses, are elaborate and go into practical problems of safe driving. Commenting upon & day’s lence with the examinations, the Worcester Evening Gazette says: “A majority of the failures were due to ignorance of the traffic law, which a little study will correct. Yet in draught and cold, each things for which portion of failures is l’# wlt:llll:xt?rlob; birds, and even any volatile, are notlsignificance. The new tests apparently very fond of. All Summer I used them ) are not catching many 0 persons w] defective eyesight or practical ignorance of driving unfits them for the privi- lege of using the highways. Some time we may devise a stiffer examination, for our accident records continually re- veal the activity of incompetent drivers. Yet the fact that a high of candidates could not answer a list of questions on the traffic laws ts the probability that licensed operators who are equally ignorant are now help- ing to congest the traffic on our high- = S * xR * Pointing out that the “legal question” hurdle for would-be drivers to jump is a new feature which will be watched, the Brooklyn Dally Eagle remarks, “A quizzical person might say that if driv- ing over State lines could be stopped under the United States Constitution Massachusetts would, with her new legislation, come pretty close to ending congestion on her streets and roads from Williamstown clear to Fall River. It is reported that 70 per cent of the applicants for drivers’ licenses falled to qualify. Registrar Parker of the Motor Supervision Bureau had prepared 81 questions on legal points, from which six were selected at random by the ex- aminers, and to prevent being flunked serts the Albany Evening News, but it raises certain questions in connection with the latest effort to improve condi-~ tions: “Severe tests for drivers may keep some mentally unfit from driving, but it is & question whether almost any one of average intelligence could not pass a test and still be unfit to drive. ‘There is no doubt that many are driving cars who should not drive them, but just the same even intelligent persons Who could pass any test may speed and be reckless at times and be as likely to have accidents as some of * “The trouble and the time will both be well expended if the plai works out as well as, on paper, it appecrs that it should,” says the Providence Evening Bulletin, with the further comment: “PFrom now on all new applicants for licenses will have to submit to it, while it is also the prerogative of the Motor Vehicle Department to require that ap- plicants for renewals of existing licenses take the examination if the authorities have reason to question their ability to pass it. The wisdom of the latter pro- vision was demonstrated the first day the new system was in operation. A n- censed driver who had been involved in two accidents within a year and who sought a renewal was examined, only to be thrown out on the first of the tests. Out of six questions on the rules of the road he could answer only one correctly. If the new plan had been in operation w year ago, this man would nover have betn licensed, and two accidents which actually occurred would have been avoided.” - A Hotel Passes. From the Omaha World-Herald. Many who have never patronized it will feel a pang of vicarious regret as the Hotel de Gink passes into oblivion, marching almost in goose-step with the applicant had to answer three of |4 . these correctly. As only a few of those examined were lawyers, the outcome might have been foreseen.” “The new Massachusetts system,” states the Birmingham News, “takes into_consideration the equipment and condition of the car as well as the capa- bility of the driver, but it was not this, nor the eye tests, nor the character ex- amination that stumped the tyros. Their stumbling block was the road test, given in crowded traffic, and the oral quiz on the State's motor laws.” * K x x “Assurance of the qualifications of cars and drivers,” acco) to the The | highway. But underneath the physical Philadelphia Evenin, , “is nec- essary to hold accident in check, and in obtaining this the State is going to the root of the problem. Also there is reasonableness in requiring every driver to be thoroughly familiar with the rules of the road. Pennsylvania should take note of the Massachusetts results in car inspection. Here we license the driver only after personal tests, but we license his machine sight unseen. A faultily equipped car is a menace in the hands of the best of operators. Our system is wrong.” The new system in the Bay State is viewed by the Canton Daily News as likely to offer statistics which will be of value to the rest of the country, and that paper records facts that have ap- peared in the matte; “Massachusetts now has the strictest code of any State in the country. The examination in- cludes an oral legal test, reading test, eye test, brief character quiz, vehicular equipment and road tests. The lej test proves the stumbling-block for majority.” * ok ok ok roblem,” advises the Times, “is quite to justify every ef- for eorrective means ‘The trafic Hartford Evening formidable enouc.gx fort in the sear drivers or new appli- cants for licenses who ask for the right to operate a motor vehicle on the public and mental aspects of this situation lies the even more important and very elusive factor of the human will. In- difference and carelessness, indicatin lack o!“ consclentious A its tony cotemporary, the Waldorf-As- a. ‘The Hotel de Gink was a free hostelry for hoboes, in Buffalo. Its very name was redolent of the road. It reeked of the obscene banter of the jungles, the class-conscious camaraderie of the roads. It called to mind the indolent, irreverent tramp of another era, the gentleman of frowsy coiffure and patched pants who was a favorite of newspaper and magazine a decade or two ago. » Except for an occasional bitter- has ! ender or throwback, that tramp vanished. No more are the jungles crowded in Autumn, like ponds along the line of flight of migrant ducks. No more are there mysterious campfires in the night, surrounded by romantic figures drinking and eating from bat- tered tin cans, swapping preposterous yarns and devising new chicanery for bamboozling the charitable. Instead there is the mendicant hitch. hiker with petit larcenous tendencies, and the furtive habitue of the fop houses. Gone is the forthright pride of race and pride of profession which marked the authentic habo. His mod- ern prototype has become merely a piti- ful subject for sociologic clinics. L As the tramp of legend disappeared, the Hotel de Gink, symbol of his race, was doomed. On Christmas day it was closed, victim of the same malady which claimed the Waldorf — inability to change with its changing race. Each proved too costly; each was too generous of its space and service to win the smiles of efficiency engineers. In place of the Waldort are larger, more impersonal institutions with standardized equipment. In the place of the Hotel de Gink is organ charity. It will provide food and lodg- ings for the destitute and do it more cheaply, more efficiently. It is all wholly admirable. But ha?- one may be pardoned for a last, fond glance at the grim contemptuously independent race glorified the tin can. e Terrible Times. From the Haverhill Evening Gasette. ‘The most impressive evidence of the fearful effects of a drought comes from Utah in the form of a dispatch to the S T R R 0 % ing tigetr atills. T y an which Q. Why is the capital letter U some-