Evening Star Newspaper, January 7, 1930, Page 8

A—8 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY. ...January 7, 1930 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evenjng Star Newspaper Company Business Office: St. and Pennsylvanta Ave. Mevko Oce? Lake Michisan Bulldtie. FlroEan Otfice; 14 Regent 8t London: ngland. Rate by Carrier Within the City. ‘_I:‘En gen;nl Sl= r{#c ter month s Evening an i 60c per month Thg Evening and Bundiy Siar e Evening and Sunday (enen 5 Bundass) 65¢ per month e per copy llection made of each month. Orders may be sent in by mail or telephorne NAtional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Mary] gl Dally and_ Sun Baily only yr.. 36 Sunday only . mo.. 50c I $4.00: 1 mo. <0c All Other States and Canada. A Daily only Sunday only Member of the Associated Press. tq’rln; Associated Preas is exclusively entitled e 7 s Justice to Annuitants. ‘The Senate has put through the Dale- Lehlbach bill liberalizing the civil service retirement law. This measure is & mere matter of justice to the em- ployes of the Federal Government who have reached the age of retirement. It is a step in the right direction. Under the existing law the retired pay of these faithful employes of the Govern- ment s ridiculously inadequate. The bill which passed the Senate yesterday is designed to increase the annuities. It makes the maximum retired pay $1,200 a year, instead of $1,000, and raises the average retired pay from $740 to $860. The increases are small enough. The man or woman in the Government service who reaches the age of retirement and must strive to win through to the end of life on the present retired pay has a difficult task ahead, in view of the cost of liv- ing. An gzed employe of the Govern- ment, if he have an elderly wife to support as well as himself, faces a cruel hardship. It is ten years since the civil service retirement act became an accomplished fact. For years the proponents of such & law had petitioned Congress for relief. Dire predictions were made by oppon- . entsof the retirement principle thatthe Government would become involved in a disastrous liability and expenditure. But the ten years that have elapsed must dispel such fears. The Govern- ment takes from the salary of each employe 312 per cent to help create a retirement fund. It is estimated that under the existing law the Government will have to contribute one-half of one per cent of the Government pay roll to fulfill its obligations. Under the new law this contribution may be raised to & full one per cent. After twenty- eight years, however, the Senate com- mittee on civil service holds in its re- port on the bill just passed, the cost to the Government will be completely liquidated. The retirement fund has grown in huge leaps until it is now common-sense procedure would be m] uncondition them from the hate they feel already. But the fact remains that such unconditioning, even if the theory is universally accepted, is extraordi- narily difficult and lacks anything ap- proaching a standardized technique. Law and law enforcement machinery exist for the protection of society. This is the case even where they are in- tended to reform rather than punish. Society is not interested in punishing anybody for the sake of punishment alone. It is concerned only in prevent- ing repetition of acts which are danger- ous to its welfare. A great deal of re- search remains before there can be any generally accepted, sclentific technique for accomplishing this end. Even the extreme point of view that the criminal should go entirely un- punished is valuable if its advocates in their earnestness uncover supporting facts in explaining the psychic mecha- nism of eriminal behavior. ‘The sine qua non of a sane crime prevention solution is a body of ob- jective facts. At present both schools of thought are simply advancing theo- ries. Upon one theory the world has acted pretty consistently from the be- ginning. The other is being taken up cautiously and doubtfully in the creation of such institutions as juvenile courts. As knowledge now stands, one theory is about as good as the other—but the first seems safer than the second. e The Trial Board Acquits. ‘Three busy officials of the Municipal Government have consumed fourteen days as a special trial board sitting on charges of general inefficlency in the McPherson case preferred against In- spector Willlam S. Shelby and Detec- tive Lieut. Edward J. Kelly. A steno- graphic record has been taken of 400,- 000 words uttered more or less passion- ately by ninty-nine witnesses and a considerable amount of dust has been kicked up. But weighing all this in the balance against the result of the trial, the community is willing cheer- fully to agree that it has been worth while. The trial has disposed of a good many questions that otherwise would have remained moot. Important among these questions, of course, has been the determination that Inspector Shelby and Lieut. Kelly are not guilty as charged. ‘The Commissioners must formally ap- prove the findings of the trial board before they become effective; action that in this case resolves itself largely to a matter of course. But to all in- tents and purposes Inspector Shelby and Lieut. Kelly cleared themselves. The action of the trial board and the antict- pated action of the Commissioners are merely concurring. Only one mark stands against the record of Inspector Shelby. The board found that, as a matter of fact, he did tell the grand jury that something should be done about certain witnesses. But the board found, and in this the community will agree, that Inspector Shelby was justi- fled in saying that something should be done. Something, assuredly, should have been done and according ‘o one well taken point of view the trial board has done it. The trial has brought out several in- THE EVENING the Capital goes forth on a Nation-wide hook-up. Recently much has been said about ‘Washington in the congressional broad- casting station that has been quite un- warranted by the facts. Minor hap- penings have in the course of a veritable campaign of criticism of District admin- istration been exaggerated to large pro- portions. Cases of ordinary character have been misstated and given the aspect of symptoms of & shocking prev- alence of crime at the Capital. Police incompetence has been charged and accepted as a fact, without proof, with- out warrant. Administrative incompe- tence has been alleged with no justifi- cation. Violations of the prohibition law have been multiplied in the telling in an attempt to cast discredit upon the Federal as well as the municipal ad- ministration. The grand jury whose term has just expired made an exhaustive inquiry into conditions. It had a difficult task, par- ticularly in the correction of mistakes. 1t met and discharged that task capably and courageously and it has rendered a valuable service, not merely to Wash- ington but to the Nation, by its inquiry and its finding. Tllness of the Chief Justice. Announcement that Chief Justice Taft, in obedience to “doctor’s orders,” is leaving Washington for the South for recuperation from illness and the shock of his brother's recent death causes keen sorrow in the Capital. His health has until a few years past been remarkably robust. He has always borne himself in high spirits and in excellent form. Enjoying his judicial duties keenly, he has worked with zest in accomplishing the reduction of calendar arrears to the point of virtu- ally bringing the business of the court up to date. He has not spared himself in this endeavor. Several years ago he suffered from & passing indisposition e that causcd & slackening of his activ- ities, but upon his restoration to full health he went forward as vigorously as before. The death of his brother, to whom he was devoted, has brought the keenest grief to him. Now he is to suspend all official and social activities and rest at Asheville, where the country hopes he will soon renew his strength so that he may return to his beloved sphere of usefulness and to association with his friends. . When Gen. Smuts talks about the League of Nations he speaks with au- thority as one who studied the idea from its inciplency and in association with its most earnest and capable de- velopment. ————r—e——————— There are disagreements among the New York State Republicans. It is a rule of the G. O. P. to have its misun- derstandings early so as to permit time for reconciliation prior to a convention. —r———— Law enforcement will present no diffi- culty when every citizen can be per- suaded to regard it as an individual duty. ———— e Bulls and bears call attention to “paper profits” and offer suggestions hopefully indicating that much of the teresting points. Not the least of these estimated that by July 1 it will amount to $150,000,000. The system eventually will be entirely self-suppoorting. The bill, which has passed the Sen- ate and which is to come up for con- sideration in the House within a short time, also reduces the age of retire- ment, after the employe of the Gov- ernment shall have given thirty years’ service. Under the existing law, all em- ployes, after fifteen years' service, are entitled to retire at the age of seventy. The proposed ‘amendment to the law would make all employes eligible for retirement at sixty-eight, after having served thirty years. Those classes of employes now entitled to retire at sixty- five, after fifteen years' service, will be able to retire at sixty-three, and those classes of employes who are entitled to retire at sixty-two will be able to retire at sixty. This not only is more just to the employes themselves, but also will be the means of bringing about greater efficlency and better service for the Government. The Dale-Lehlbach bill liberalizing the civil service retirement act has passed both houses of Congress in the pest. Former President Coolidge let it C.e with & so-called “pocket veto.” He did not send a message back to Con- gress announcing his determination not to approve the bill. He allowed the bill to die at the close of the last Con- gress by merely failing to approve it. The bill i expected to pass the House within & short time and ‘then will be sent to President Hoover for his ap- proval. o Full confidence is now placed in Ger- man finance. Those Who have a few million marks of fiat money issued when Berlin was working the printing presses overtime are content to cherish them @ historic souvenirs and, so far as they are otherwise concerned, to forget the past. o Crime and Punishment. It s unlikely that a satisfactory solu- tion of the problem of crime and pun- ishment will be reached in our gener- ation. The two schools of thought on this subject both presented their viewpoints at the recent meeting of the American Bociological Society here, and the clash of opinions only served to emphasize how far apart they are. That anti-social behavior should be punished and that the more severe the punishment the less will be the likeli- hood of the acts seems, at first thought, to be the common-sense point of view. “The burned child dreads the fire.” It 1s upon this principle that society has is whether it ever lles within the province of a grand jury to choose & third alternative, instead of confining itself to the two that lle in power to indict and power to ignore. There are many occasions when it is meet and proper that the grand jury deliver itself of opinions regarding & situation or a condition important to the community. It is rare indeed that a grand jury is justified in attempting to blacken the official character of in- dividuals by formally presenting charges against them, drawn as to specific counts, when such charges have no legs to stand on in court and no special niche to fill in the general scheme of things. The charges, delivered from the secret chambers of the grand jury, thus become vicious white elephants on the hands of the community that has no well ordered procedure by which to dispose of them. In the serles of checks and balances that go to make up the legal system, a fundamental point rests in the fact that the accused al- ways has the right to meet his accuser face to face, with a day in court dedi. cated to his defense. But a special re- port from a grand jury acts to deprive the accused of this inalienable right. His accuser is a grand jury. The limits of life of a grand jury are firmly fixed. Nothing is more dead than a grand jury that has expired, and a dead man tells no tales in court or anywhere else, for or against the accused. Inspector Shelby and Lieut. Kelly are to be congratulated, not only upon their acquittal, but upon their dignified and restrained conduct during tne trial and in the long drawn out period of hysteria which preceded the trial. Their testimony before the trial board was unique. Neither depended for his de- fense upon the negative procedure of denial. Both were willing to let their affirmative actions speak for themselves. Their recitals of these actions served not merely to shatter the charges against them; they stand as extraordinary testimonials of the professional capabil- ity of the two men. ——e— Italy is enthusiastic about the Bel- gian princess. Her appearance on the scene of public affairs proves one occa- sion on which even Mussolini cannot take full possession of the spotlight. . A Charge Refuted. In a speclal report made by the grand jury which ended its term yesterday the Capital is cleared of the charge lately brought against it I being ex- ceptionally crime ridden and lawless, This is the finding: While there are numerous violations acted throughout history. Upon analysis the common sense is & lttle less obvious. Just what does punishment accomplish? It tends to associate with certain undesirable acts certaln painful consequences. It pro- duces & conditioned fear—and oynical philosophers have maintained that in the final analysis morals are nothing more than just such conditioned fears. But the process of conditioning still is only vaguely understood—and it is extraordinarily complex. Punishment may produce not only & conditioned fear, but a conditioned hate compared to which the deterrent factor of fear be- comes insignificant. PFrom this latter point of view the prison becomes & mechanism which society has set up to condition men who already hate it to hate it still more intensely, whereas the of the prohibition law in the District of Columbla, conditions are certainly no worse and are probably better than those existing in other sections of the United States. It is the opinion of the grand jury that Washington, D. C,, is not the vice-ridden, lawless community that it has been pictured. Washington suffers under the dis- advantage of being always under the magnifying glass, as it were, of public attention. Whatever happens here is brought immediately to national notice. ‘Whatever i3 said here is broadcast to the country at large. Legislative discus- loss was only imaginary money. —————— Projects to make employment abun- dant promise that, whatever else may be indicated by the fashions, overalls will be in welcome evidence. ——————————— After & rum boat is captured there is often room for inquisitiveness as to what becomes of some of the rum. —————— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Calendar. January on its way; February next. March with zephyrs gay And April all perplexed By the chill, uncertain show'rs ‘That will bring the Maytime flow'rs, June, July and August warm— ‘Then Beptember leaves, As October brings a storm, ‘While November grieves. It's no wonder that we sigh— Here's & year almost gone by! Beneficiaries. “What are your views on the tariff?” “It is the great promoter of prosper- ity for a number of people,” answered Senator Sorghum. “I know several lob- byists who could scarcely get along without it.” . Jud Tunkins says he has hopes of a five-day working week for himself. His wife has three children to look after, and she’ll have to go on with the seven- day week as usual, Protection. We tell on & poetic page About a bird in gilded cage. The snowbird is a stalwart elf Endeavoring to enjoy himself, And wishing, as the chill winds rage, That he could have a gilded cage. “How did you come out on those market tips I gave you?” “First rate. Didn't you play them yourself?"” “No. I wanted to see whether I am picking lucky numbers before I venture anything on my own account.” The One Consideration. The old campaigner makes me shrink, As speeches he will quote. He doesn't ask what I may think, But only how I'll vote! “In seeking to deserve the admiration | of a friend,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “have a care lest you gain only his envy.” Puzzles. ‘The market once I tried to guess. ‘The effort leaves me in distress. A gentler frowning marks my brow. I'm doing cross-word puzzles now. “Don't waste time remindin’ anybody of his mistakes,” sald Uncle Eben. “If he can't see 'em foh hisse’f, 'tain’ no use tellin’ him. Tar Prescribed as a Sure Starling Cure To the Editor of The Star: 1 see by your paper that the starlings are proving a great nuisance in the city. A sure way to stop them from sion of local affairs takes place in a body that is constantly in the public eye and perticularly in the public ear. The aldermen and the common counciimen of the District are at once the Senators and the Representatives of the States in Congress, and what they say regarding roosting on any window or sign, limb or other place 18 to paint the roosting place with tar. That does not dry out for a long time. By that time the birds will find other places to roost or leave the city. It should be put on not too plentifully, so it would run off and du&un the sign or wherever it may be used. N. P. CHAMBERLIN. STAR, WASHINGTON bile THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL, There are perhaps not 3,000 persons in the United States who have read “The Fortune of the Rougons,” by Emile Zola. To feel one's self a part of such a small group among 130,000,000 people is something. Here is a little inner circle of readers who keep alive the Zola cult, which once swept the world. “The Fortune of the Rougons” is the initial volume of the great Rougon- Macquart serles of 20 novels which 1Zao’l; began in 1871 and finished in This series was once very widely known. The Dreyfus affair, in which Zola played such a prominent part. brought him and it additional publicity throughout the world. ‘Three of its component novels, “L'As- sommoir,” “Germinal” and “Nana” became known to readers everywhere and today are read ultimately by all who value good writing in the novel form. The base of that gigantic series, however, the story which gives the background for the rest, is seldom read in_this country. ‘Two factors are responsible for this state of affairs. In the first place, Zola seems old-fashioned. His ‘“realism” has been far outdone by modern writers. His novels even scem Victorian to_sophisticated readers of today. In the second place, there is only one edition of “The Fortune of the Rougons” available in translation in this country, as far as we know, that issued by the Bonis in 1925. A third factor perhaps should be men- tioned. “The Fortune of the Rougons” is not a great book, by any means. It is interesting, primarily, because it be- gan a famous series of connected novels. * koK ok What Zola attempted to do in his 20 long volumes is best explained in the author’s own words, prefaced to the book under consideration: “I wish to explain how a family, & small group of human beings, conducts in a given social system after blossoming forth and giving birth to 10 or 20 members, who, though they may appear, at the first glance, profoundly dissimilar one from the other, are, as analysis demonstrates, most closely linked together from the point of view of affinity. Heredity, like gravity, has its laws. “By resolving the duplex question of temperament and environment, I shall endeavor to discover and follow the thread of connection which leads math- ematically from one man to another. And when I have possession of every thread and hold a complete social group in my hands, I shall show this group at work, participating in an historical pe- riod; I shall depict it in action, with all its varied energies, and I shall analyze both the will power of each member and the general tendency of the whole. “The great characteristic of the Rou- gon-Macquarts, the group or family which I propose to study, is their rave- nous appetite, the great outburst of our age which rushes upon enjoyment. Physiologically the Rougon-Macquarts represent the slow succession of acci- dents pertaining to the nerves or the blood, which befall a race after a first organic lesion, and, according to en. vironment, determine in each individual member of the race those feelings, de- sires and passions—briefly, all the nat- ural and instinctive manifestations pe- culiar to humanity—whose outcome as- sumes the conventional name of virtue or vice, “Historically the Rougon-Macquarts proceed from the masses, radiate throughout the whole of contemporary soclety and ascend to all sorts of posi- tions by the force of that impulsion of essentially modern origin which sets the lower classes marching through the so- cial system. * * * This work, which will comprise several episodes, is therefore, in my mind, the natural and social his- tory of a family under the Second Em- pire. And the first episode, here called ‘The Fortune of the Rougons,’ should scientifically be‘emmed ";l'ga Origin.’ " * ok * What will strike the reader about this 60-year-old preface is the modernity of “The great outburst of our age which upon enjoyment”’—that might be a description of Americans in modern America. The march of the lower classes through the social system is even more typical of the United States now than it was in the France of the last century. Zola had to choose & common family in order to show its progress. The great charge made against him, both in his own day and now, is that his books deal unnecessarily with the evil in human beings. = One carefully studying his preface to the first of them will realize that his subjects arose almost by ne- cessity out of his family. Evil had to predominate, The question of environment was a moot one with Zola. He realized its force in a day and age when civilization was just beginning to grasp it. Today many a soclal worker who never read a book by Emile Zola, or, indeed, even heard his name, is yet indebted to him. We may discount much of what Zola tried to do, for, after all, he was a child of his age, an age bursting with self-im- portance. Heredity has not turned out to be the “science” which he thought it was, or which he hoped it would be. But human beings are still human beings and his delving into them, at their worst and best, is still very vital. Some Zola enthusiasts declare that “The Fortune of the Rougons” is one of the best stories the French master ever wrote. We cannot ee. It is rather slow in action and does not show the sure hand of the master story-teller which he later became. In it he has a 50-page digression in the plot which he would not have introduced 10, 15 or 20 years later. ‘The book will be of intense interest, however, to all who find matter of speculation and amusement in the in- cessant struggle for riches which goes on around us every day. The story shows us the members of this peculiar family poor, grasping, come almost to the end of their lives, but never having given up for a second the hope of getting rich. The children grow up, become mid- dle aged, and still there are no riches —and still the elderly couple pine for money, for position, for a respect which they do not have. And in that hope almost every reader must see, as if mirrored in a distorted looking glass, something of his own aspirations and dreams. Few succeed in life as they would like to succeed, but it is perhaps true that few, if any, ever give up their dreams. They may give over a portion of them, being beaten to the by unescapable happenings, but they clutch ly to their hearts the hopes which have es- caped, and these become all the dearer to them because of the loss of tI remainder. - Fortune of the Rougons” might have been entitled, “The Natural History of How Heroes Are Made,” for here the reader finds a deliclous account of the making of an ordinary hero in everyday life. The way in which Plerre Rougon, merchant, becomes the savior of his home town, and thus becomes deco- rated and secures an important post under the government, may be greatly exaggerated, but the reader will not be able to escape the conviction that this is the way many of them are made, if the truth were known. ‘To such as contemplate reading those three master works, “L’'Assom- moir,” “Nana” and “Germinal” we recommend the prior reading of this book. Zola, as is every master writer, is a world in himself. To understand that world is something. To read “The Fortune of the Rougons” is to under- stand it better, and to make one's self famillar with Gervaise and the other heroes and heroines of the later stories. It should be stated that each novel stands perfectly by itself; there is no bothersome connection, except in re- gard to ancestry. Highlights on the Wide World Excerpts From Newspapers of Other Lands E MATIN, Paris—Some time agoa newspaper instituted a “club” of “smiling women.” This is not only & pleasant idea, it is an ex- tremely beneficial one as well If the countenance reflects the thought, it is possible that a reversal of this ac- tion may be effective, too, and that, with a smile upon our faces, our thoughts may be diverted into pleasant and kindly channels, even though they were not running there before. The only visible symbol of & person’s atti- tude toward us is exemplified in his as- rcb, and when the visage beholding us a smiling one, we assume naturally that there is good will and fellowship, and we respond accordingly. I am sure that any woman when she wants to see how attractive she really is, beams upon herself before her mirror. No beauty lotion can remove as well, or quickly, the lines of age or care as a smile. So, ladies, when it concerns a choice between growing old or smiling, will you hesitate (2: l‘on§7 * Mexican Women Not Qualified to Vote. El Universal, Mexico City.—According to Senor Manuel Collado, one of the legal advisers of the government, wom- an isn't qualified for the electoral func- tion. Although Senor Collado admits that in other respects woman is the equal of man, and has equal rights un- der the law as to the enjoyment of life, liberty and privilege, still there is nothing at present in the Mexican con- stitution which will permit the admis- sion of women to the polls. ‘The ballot is a masculine privilege exclusively. The functions of govern- ment naturally devolve upon men, and those who must enforce and uphold the laws should be the ones who devise them and elect the officers. Men and women are co-pariners in society—one sex is essential to the other, but that does not mean that their functions must be identical any more in matters of government than they are in the manifestations of nature. R Calendar Reform On in Russia. Cologne Gazette.—The introduction of the unbroken working week has brought about a new calendar reform in Soviet Russia. From now on the week will consist of 5 days instead of 7 and there will be 72 weeks in a year in- stead of the present 52. Saturday and Sunday, the Jewish and Christian Sab- baths, will be abolished altogether, the Soviet having no use for these religions. The number of the months remains un- changed, but a month will consist of 6 weeks instead of 4, and thus comprise 30 days. The five days remaining at the end of each year under the func- tioning of this eccentric calendar will be converted into & grand national holi- day. ‘Fhis experiment will be watched with intense interest outside of Russia, to see whether the seven-day week is a divine | ordinance or merely an arbitrary con- vention of man. ek “Vitality” Is New Feminine Allurement. Le Matin, Paris.—Women have a new quality today, an additional charm, which not so very long ago used to be considered a defect. The name of this new feminine allurement is All around us, at every breath, we hear of the “vitality” of such and such a sportswoman, of such and such a “star” or of such and such a woman of affairs. This healthful animation—this “joy in living” did not used to be stylish in the ladies—but now it has resumed— or rather taken on all that is chic and fashionable. “Vitality” has become & | social virtue—a modish attribute. Its repertoire holds a score of graces and functions. It means & greater endurance, & freedom from all sorts of intellectual or moral perplexities; it means ardor, enthusiasm; it means a love of athletic activity; it means a horror of meditation, or repose. In a word, it comes closes to being the same thing of which we speak vulgarly as “splutter.” ‘There is a tendency to go to extremes in these various forms “vitality.” It is to be hoped that, in time, a happy mean will be found between the exces- sive idleness of the women of past dec- ades and the excessive “vitality” of modern Iemmlx:uy. P * Cheaper Books Are Urged for Schools. El Comercio, Lima—This treatise does not have to do with the sum total f the books already existing upon the shelves of the libraries of our uni- versities, but is a discussion of the util- ity and availability of these books to the students who are taking courses. This is a problem that those passing through the halls of our institutions of learning have had to contend with from time immemorial. The expenses of uni- versity training are heavy enough with- out the recurring costs of text books. So rapid are the advances made in science, art, medicine, mechanics, etc., today, that & book that can be properly used this year is hopelessly out of date next year, and students cannot digpose of their numerous texts required for their further studies. Our recommenda- tion is that the government get out cheap editions of all books used in the schools of art, technicology, medicine, law, etc., and either furnish them free to students who cannot afford to buy the regular editions, or sell them at a price within the reach of all. LR “Pllots of Traffic” To Hold Forth in Lima. El Comercio, Lima—A new group is to be added to our category of public servants, to which the name s given, in Sweden, of “Pilots of Traffic.” The first to be benefited by these new assistants will be the visitors to the exhibition of homes, which will be held from May till October next year. Tiess pilots of traffic will cruise the more important streets and highways, setting the pace for vehicles, preventing accidents as much as possible, and particularly di- recting and assisting, when necessary, the drivers of foreign cars—that is, the cars of tourists, either from the interior of the country or from abroad. Such people are unacquainted with our traffic regulations, and would otherwise be more prone than our own citizens to get into trouble. If the trying out of these additional officers proves advantageous, the service will be extended in the city. ‘What One Found In Geometrical New York. El Nuevo Diarlo, Caracas—My ar- rival in the xfiomttrlcll metropolis of the Yankees filled me with many mis- glvings. I had found European cities joy and panacea for my soul—but tu bulent New York! That immense city, ‘would it &rovo a dark prison, or a limpid which I could wing my way with perfect liberty? A contem- plation reassured me, dissolved my fears, and restored my confidence. Of course there were the inevitable disappoint- ments of the traveler who K on Broadway and Fifth avenue for the har- monious lines and atmosphere of the Champs Elysees; who hopes to find at the Battery the ancien: spaclousness and dignity of the Plaza of St. Mark at Venice; imagines that he can compare the skyscrapers—so lofty and cubisti- cal—with the noble Gothic cathedrals; er, finally, sees a relaiionship between e e, rooklyn Bridge an gran! - work of the Generalife and the Alham- .. physical ' bry TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1930. NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM L G M. RADIO LAW. W. Jefferson Davis. Los Angeles: Parker, Stone & Baird Co. So long as the upper spaces continued to be of geographical interest to birds alone—possibly to disembodied sprits as well, certainly to occasional storms an semi-occasional strange behaviors of the heavens besides — just so long there seemed to be no call for attempted in- terference with this intangible domain on the part of man. When, however, genius provided the human himself with wings and with a direct voice-reach quite around the globe, then, suddenly, the ethereal world became one of rights and routes, of claims and counter- claims. Then there came to be bedlam in the skies, as there is wherever this contentious, crowding, eager, unconquer- able animal puts in foot, or wing, or word. It is but a few years since the as- tounding achievement of science invent- ed the radio and posited thereby a new domain for the legislators to tackle. A matter of deep moment it was, too. Mo- mentous not only to great business en- terprises, but to every householder also. Some of these settled in far places, eager to gather the outer world into their lonely existences. So, the law- makers went to work. First, naturally, they looked over the stock in d— laws from Adam on—made-over laws, patched and darned and dyed laws, turned upside down and inside out to meet one exigency after another. Laws bearing upon the slow-growing processes of a big world becoming smaller, closer- knit. Some of this old law-stock would serve. Much of it would not. And, so, & new law for the control and direction of the radio had to be fashioned. For the immediate use of the student, the practical organizer, the radio-mind- ed business man and the private citizen, Mr. Jefferson Davis has gathered up in compact body and clear statement the story of radio legislation from its be- ginning on to the present. Already a dozen books stand to the credit of Mr. Davis. All of these have to do with one or another of the legal aspects of aerial communication, either by way of plane or radio. *“ Law, the New Field,” “Air Laws and Air Lanes,” “Putting Laws Over Wings,” “How High Is Up?” “The Federal Ra- dio Act"—these as mere titles indicate not only the writer's preoccupation with this single theme—this many-sided sin- gle theme—but they point as well upon the easy and communicable spirit of his approach to it, a spirit that becomes em- bodied in an interesting and vital story of the air in its lej d powers of uni- fying a huge and diverse world to community of reciprocal understand- Ings and accommodations. “The full purpose of this study is to give explicit definition to the present legal status of the radio. Its further design is to trace the origin and nature of the enactments under which he | the radio is being administered. Here the author .demonstrates to what ex- tent the laws of intercourse by sea and land can be made applicable, are being made applicable, to new medium of communication. One point also is to forecast, broadly, the ulti- mate diffusion and multiplied useful- ness of the radio when, its powers fully realized, its increasing applications fully in hand, its mechanics perfected, its regulations matured, it then stand as an adequate and equitable means of general service, amazing in possibility and usefulness. The study makes com be- tween this country and those of Europe in the progress of the radio as a means of practical intercourse. The book em- bodies the text of the United States radio law. of 1927 with the amend- ments of the two succeeding years. It discusses, also, State and municipal regulations; the copyright and radio; the Washington conference of 1927, with its sequence of the new radio code and other public events, confer- ences and enactments bearing upon the theme. There are given, besides, the methods of procedure of the Fed- eral Radio Commission. ‘The study, you see, comprehends and sets down the subject as a whole in its sallent and significant features of expansion and growth. Mr, Jefferson Davis is a university man. He is, moreover, professional ex- pert and clear authority on the subject of the air as a new medium of inter- course among all parts of the world; on the subject, too, of the legislative regulations that have, so far, organ- ized this intercourse and regulated it in the interests of common equity and fair business opportunity. A law book? Clearly that, by design and ful- fillment. But never for a minute a dry document of a law book. Prob- ably no where else can be found in so compact & body, in 8o clear a state- ment, the whole matter of radio de- velopment up to its present status and outlook. * k% x THE LAW LIBRARY IN THE CAPI- ‘TOL, WASHINGTON, D. C. Ro- land Willlamson, Washington: John Byrne & Co. Here is a guide book of unique stripe. Its appeal is not to the tourist cara- vans that move so steadily in and out of the Capitol. It is addressed, in- stead, to the resident, or at most to the sojourner of longer or shorter stay. Besides, even among these, its bid is to a student class, or to a professional calling. Here is a gulde book for the law student; better yet, for the practising attorney. The fleld is that of the law library at the Capitol, generally known as the Supreme Court Library. A neg- lected place, one gathers from read- ing here, a bit musty, this treasure house of books, and rather hidden ex- cept to the very special sort of being who has a keen scent for books, for old ks. Trying to stand in the shoes of the |’ law student or the lawyer for the pur- pose of making some fair sort of ap- praisal of the book in hand, I am impressed, decidedly, with the thorough- ness and completeness of the work of pointing__out the Tesources of this library. More than that, any one would be delighted with the orderliness of this law-book exposition. Now it seems to me, if T were a lawyer either in fact or in the process of becoming, these two qualities of a book of this intent—to guide the profession to an amazing mine of knowledge and information— would be the exclusive two for which I should be in need. Complete and orderly. If the subject were other than it is, unqualified praise would have to 80 t0 80 thorough a piece of work, pre= sented in an almost pictorial manner —like & good map of some country through which one was to make his way. Federal laws with Federal reports and dlfists are here, set out in some- thing like panoramic effect. Here are State laws, reports and citations, just where they should be to catch orderly mind and the consecutive eye. Here are selected cases to meet specific condition. Here are cyclopedias, text books, legal periodicals. - And for source and comparisons, too, here are British laws, those from which our own primar- ily were derived. This naming is hardly important. The fact remains that it is the orderly precision of the setting out that will grow into the benefit and approbation of the student, who, surely, 1s going to follow the lead of the guide t the door. A mere layman, I was caught, first and even last, by this Roland ~ Williamson, “assistant in charge.” Gradually there has grown in his mind the feeling of companionship for this room down on the lower floor of the Capitol. No doubt, there is no doubt in my mind that he has had genuine assoclations with some of the great men assembled there through the power of their own wisdom, their own service to us, who have come after them. There is a glamour over the fllce for this man. You can tell by he way he leads you to this dim place where he is “assistant in charge.” “If you have not already done so, we would suggest that on your next visit to the Capitol you what is known as the Law entrance, * * * ‘There could hnrd?y be found a s in the United States sbout which has the | book ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN. Have we had the pleasure of serving you through our Washington Informa- tion Bureau? Can't we be of some help to you in your problems? Our business is to furnish you with authori- tative information and we invite you to ask us any question of fact in which you are interested. Send your inquiry to The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. Inclose 2 cents in coin or stamps for return postage. Q. What is the life of an airplane motor?—T. D. H. A. The life of an airplane motor varies with the make of the engine. ‘The ultimate life of an engine is around 2,000 flying hours, which means about 200,000 miles. Q. Will fastening a radio antenna in the top of a tree kill the tree?—G. H. T. A. The Forest Service says that it will not harm a tree to fasten a radio antenna in it. Q. What is the percentage of non- Catholic students at Notre Dame University?—C. P. A. The registrar of the University of Notre Dame says that the percentage of non-Catholic students at Notre Dame is 7.17 per cent. Q. What is meant by going out with the honors of war?—S, T. A. The privilege is very generally accorded to a garrison surrendering after a brave defense. It permits the soldiers to carry away their arms and in some cases to march out with drums beating and colors flying. Q. Where are the slums in Washing- ton, D. C.?>—G. C. A. In the sense in which the word is \llsed in large citles, Washington has no slums, Q. Under the Tacna-Arica treaty, which country rules Tacna?—T. S. A. The instruments of ratification ‘were exchanged between Chile and Peru on July 28, 1929, and on August 28, 1929, the City and Province of Tacna were delivered to Peruvian sovereignty. Q. How many square feet of floor space and cubic feet of air space is allowed for each pupil in & school room?—K. R. C. A. The Office of Education says that :fiprux&m&tely 12 feet of floor space is lowed per pupil in the public schools. One hundred cubic feet of air space is about the right amount in the average school room. Q. Is the new bridge across Grand Canyon completed?>—C. A. N. A. The new bridge at the foot of the Bright Angel trail has been completed. The distance spanned measures 500 feet between supports. This bridge replaces nne at the same spot, built at a lower level, and is the only means of crossing the canyon within a stretch of 300 miles save by airplane. Q. How large do drops of water have to be to be called rain?—W. A. A. Drops of water formed in the at- ‘mosphere condensation of aqueous vapor and falling rapidly by virtue of their weight are known as rain. Small- 5 T, 2, il o oy are known as or fog. o rain one-fourth to three-tenths of an inch in diameter have been measured. The smallest of rain measure one-twentieth of an inch in diameter. Q. Are many cucumbers grown in more slowly, | technical greenhouses? What vegetable crops lead in this respect?—N. D. G. A. Greenhouse cucumbers are one of the three most important vegetable crops grown in forcing houses. Lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes make up the bulk of the vegetable forcing crop of the United States. Q. Does balsa wood absorb much moistyre?>—S. R. *. It is very absorbent, and when -ced under water light pleces may bsorb as high as 500 to 600 per cent moisture. Its life is said to be very short under ordinary conditions unless treat- ed with a preservative. Q at is the gem called hidden- ite?>—E. H. A. Hiddenite is a green, transparent variety of spodumene used as & gem stone. A well marked prismatic cleav- age renders the mineral rather difficult to cut. Its color passes from an em- erald green to a greenish yellow and is often unevenly distributed through the stone, which shows much fire when properly cut. :iddenite was originally found as loose crystals in the soil, but was afterward worked in a vein stone where it occurred in association with quartz, garnet and other minerals, Q. How is helium produced?—R. H. A. The isolation of hellum in the pure state is a matter of some diffi- culty. To begin with, some mineral containing the gas, like cleveite or uraninite, is finely powdered and heat- ed with dilute sulphuric acid, the air being excluded and the expelied gas being collected over mercury. The —mostly helium, but containing nitrogen and other atmospheric con- sgituents—is next transferred into an evacuated vessel partly filled with a mass of charcoal and cooled from outside with liquid air; the charcoal . gradually absorbs everything except the helium and part of the neon, and if the process is repeated several times, nothing but pure helium remains hind unabsorbed. Q. How many States were there in the Union at the close of the War of 1812?—F. J. J. A. There were 18 States in the Union at the close of the war which ended late in December, 1814. Q. How did traffic lights and towers originate?—K. E. A. A test of the traffic towers advo- cated by Dr. J. F. Harris took place at Times Square, New York City, Janu- ary 5, 1922. Towers were installed February 5 of the same year. The use of lights in traffic signaling un- doubtedly grew out of railroad practice. Their use seemed to arrive more or less simultaneously in the larger: cities of the country, were first used in the form of lanterns to make visible at night the indications of officer- operated semaphores. Later both officers and lights were raised in towers for purpose of making the indica- tions more visible to trafic and to give the officers a better view of traffic con- ditions and the activities of officers at adjacent intersections. Detroit had one of the first of these tower systems. The advantages of officers at adjacent inter- sections working together led to the development of interconnected, me= chanically timed signals and the sub- sequent development of the elaborate met which are in general use at the present time. Q. How many absolute monarchies are there in existence today?—s. I. Adethog lbsoluer monarchies of the ‘worl ay are , Nepal, S and Mghnzistnm R White-Collar Hospital Plan | Raises Endowment Question Indorsement of the idea of a “white- collar” hospital providing accommoda- tions for persons of moderate means is widespread and emphatic in the press. Discussion of the proposed Gotham in- stitution and the Massachusetts General Hospital brings up the crying and spec- alates on the question of total endow- ments required for making the move- ment national. . “If endowment of patients is to solve the cost of illness as college endowments have lowered the cost of education,” says the San Francisco Chronicle, “the Nation has yet a long way to go. Tak- ing only those schools which have not less than $2,000,000 endowment each, the funds bestowed on American col- leges and universities run to more than a billion dollars. It does not seem a wild guess that it will take as great an endowment to solve the problem of the high cost of illness to those who cannot afford to meet the charges or to accept medical care as charity.” The Chron- icle finds the project “an interesting ex- periment” since it touches ‘a class which constitutes 50 per cent of the Na- tion’s population.” * K K ok “Beyond a doubt the Gotham Hos- pital will be welcomed by those near enough to its portals to find refu; there when attacked by illness and need of hospital service,” comments the Louisville Times, “but this institution will attempt to cope with a great prob- lem. The white-collar class is composed of ‘people of skill and gentle breeding, but not of wealth—ministers, teachers, librarians, writers, tradesmen, clerks, actors’ * * * Relleving the white~ collar_class by endowments for educa- tion, hospitalization and other necessi- ties, instead of seeking economic ad- justments under which more than half of the population will not be in need of services of endowment. funds, may be a larger undertaking than economic ad- justment would be.” “There is no doubt that hospital costs are too heavy for the patient who is neither penniless nor rich, and that millionaire philanthropy might well de- vote more of its concern to the plight of this patient,” thinks the Springfield (Mass.) Repubiican. That paper, how- ever, raises the question: “If first- class hospital service is a fundamental necessity, why should its provision be left to the generosity of men of great wealth?"” R “There is no tendency to question the legitimacy of present-day costs,” re- happened so much having to do with our Federal Government.” And then he summons to the spot upon one momen- tous occasion or another, George Wash- ington, Jefferson, John Marshall and so on through a course of events that are ours, that are a part of our beloved heritage, whether we know about the laws under which we live or not. The 1s, of course, of first and deepest value to the lawyer. Here is a place to which he will go, certainly, after he has studied this book. But, here is a place besides for those of us who are growing so deeply curious over the resources of this city in the way of delight and profit to all by way of the inexhaustible wealth of varying sorts of knowledge that is to be found in one or another of the Government bureaus and departments, We are coming, slowly, to realize that this Federal City is certainly one of the greatest univer- sitles in the world, replete in profound knowledge of many sorts—scientific, historical, political, whatnot. Now and then there comes out some book, some newspaper item, some slight survey, to indicate that we have at hand an un- paralleled source of information. “The Law Library in the Capitol” takes its place, its highly useful place and its clearly interesting place, among these forerunners of open announcement that we are living in the heart of a it treasure city. But, to be plainly prac- tical for the moment, if I were a law student, or better yet, a full-fledged lawyer, I'd set up an acquaintance with the library that Mr. Williamson has offered—quite as much in the spirit of the poet as in the more ponderous bearing of the student that he so clearly is. marks the Houston Chronicle. - agree thai they are unavoidable. In the hospital maintained on its fees, the average patient must pay seven dollars a day, plus seven to seventeen dollars & .day for special nursing services, plus t doctors’ fees. The proposed Gotham is expected to cut all these half. * ¢ * Tt can render & service that will only be a drop in the bucket as compared with the public need, of course, but its backers hope that it will serve as an example for others. They hope to demonstrate that great good can be done with compar: tively little expenditure from an en- dowment find, and to encourage that type of endowment. Perhaps this is the kind of endowment and philanthropic work that should now be stressed.” s Calling this form of hospitalization ‘an interesting experiment,” the Port- Gotham committee “seeks reac of other American cities to g:: wes:jg: of adequate hospital and medical care for people of moderate means,” and concludes that “as a demonstration hos- pital the operation of the proposed in- stitution will be watched with interest Eg_?'.her citles throughout the coun- * kX “Students in colleges,” states - coln State Journal, “are not nqmmw pay the full cost of education, because of endowment by private benefactors or the State, of the institution they attend. Why should not the sick receive a simi- lar benefit when they come to pay the cost of illness? Is education more im- portant than health? * * « Charity is hidden in endowed schools. Even the rich accept the benefits, and there the rich are not discriminated against. It appears they would be in the proposed Gotham Hospital. They will be required to pay what the service costs. No such Tequirement is made in educational in- stitutions, and in this discrimination against the rich may be found humilia~ nunT{lol' tlllfiénidtli]l: class.” “The white-collar class, which admit- tedly is the intellectual and economic backbone of society,” says the Hartford Courant, “continues to eschew the ward bed, with resulting financial sacrifice, At the same time it allows its sons and daughters to accept reduced tuition rates, and sees no loss of caste in 8o doing. When will that class of people begin to realize that medical care given g—le‘:bec: ul!x::e:h redu‘v;etzhr:tes. is no more an - duced tuition charges? :ys'fm‘ “c::- tainly any community would be the bet- ter off for possessing facilities such as those implied in the committee's de- s,:r‘lpl-lboen of what the Gotham Hospital o ba. Referring to the Massachusetts Gen- eral Hospital, the Rochester Timet Union records that “its name and fame Will be enhanced when, about March 1, 1t opens to the public a new $2,000,000 unit for the service of the so-called ‘white-collar’ sick,” and that paper feels confident that “the enterprise will be watched by those who, as they say, ‘cannot afford to be sick’ In very truth, they cannot under the system from which the Massachusetts General same institution’s new work the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin offe the opinion: “It should be but the be= ginning of the fulfillment of a great want, And its operation should be an Object lesson to philanthropists here and elsewhere, to whom hospitals must 1;:::].{:1‘ t'l:le cfimw hwlth which to e ot assachusetts General ————— A Close Race. From the Tulss World, The Crimes reports that the pay-roll bandits beat the installe ment men to $2,000,000 worth of pay rolls in the last year. —_—————— Irish Sentiment? From the Roanoke Times. With Pat Hurley in the War e . POE T, Dt all the Hoover administral for s!whllahlumpfilmmh A