Evening Star Newspaper, February 1, 1930, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR o WD Sunday Morning Edition. ‘WASHINGTOW, D. C.' SATURDAY. ...February 1, 1930 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editer The Evening Star Ntfi:'- Company a BT G Bate by Carrier Within the City. 4b¢ ver voonth 60c ver month l«!.l"l'!-alh .l ‘l of cach month, m‘rfiso sent in by mail or Telephone BB 2 e oAt Hrs xclusively entitied 18 € ely entit] to the nse for reflal;nenun‘ag::él news dis- Redia St ‘b \na. sls "o W » bere! The Real Root of the Evil. Debate in the House preceding passage of the Cramton bill on Thursday in- cluded discussion of the financing of this measure, which is naturally of vital importance to the District. There has' been littie, if any, oppo- tion to the Cramton bill's fine pur- pose to carry forward park develop- ment in and around Washington. The only opposition from Washington has been based on the system of financing, hich places a disproportionate load -local taxpayers, excluding the Na- from contributing its full and fair of forty per cent. But as the ton bill merely extends this sys- , the proper remedy lies in the an- appropriation bills for the Dis- trict. * This thought was developed in # | amendment or in the national prohi- and the glider have all shown their usefulness for carrying passengers safely to the ground. Of the three it would appear that development of the motored plane for this work would have the most far-reaching results, as planes can carry more than one person and are under power control after being released. The parachute will probably always remain merely a life-saving apparatus, as it is difficult to believe that any great number of persons will ever cultivate a desire to jump off into space just for the fun of it. The prac- tical value of the glider is yet to be demonstrated, but at all events the experiment at Lakehurst yesterday was an interesting one. — e Mr. Fort’s Suggestion. Franklin Fort of New Jersey, & be- liever In the benefits of prohibition, has suggested that the people “make their own,” as & way out of the prohibition enforcement tangle which has arisen in this country.” Representative Fort holds that the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution was intended to bring an end to commercial traffic in liquor. He believes that there is nothing In the bition law that prevents a man from taking a drink. He insists that it is legal for a citizen to make light wines and beer in his home for his own use. Mr. Fort’s address in the House yes- térday was the most temperate discus- sion of the liquor question which has been heard in Congress for & long time. And because of its temperateness as well as because of Mr. Fort's promi- nence, he was given an attentive hear- ing by a great majority of the House membership. What he had to say was applauded and the applause came from drys and wets, Republicans and Demo- crats alike. Furthermore, he brought to the discussion something new. Judg- ing from past performances, it is un- likely that either the extreme drys or the extreme wets will be able to deal successfully with the prohibition en- forcement question, which undeniably ‘Thirsday's debate. Representative Bowman ‘asked’ wvhy the Federal Government did not put : the same burden of contribution upon the people of Maryland and Virginia that it placed upon the District, and Representative Dallinger answered him B i areas outside of the District thal States of Maryland and Virginia shall fifty ‘per cent of the the case of Rock Creek Eastern Branch, two- 5 balance to ¥ E E 5 | skfled i »®5 gg k: i 3 | i il 2 1 i £id {53 EE 3 't We do to time t that the E g : | % S H ] 5 P I | 8 g g mt:t of Colum- a) parks. P‘%’h bill does not make any that at all We do not change the substantive law. ‘The Federal t the L mmflw it % for an for as it pays y other District of Columbia expense, ‘Washington is indebted to Mr. Bow- man for bringing the matter to the at- tention of the House. It is perfectly bia, that law priation for i tive law by riders that substitute an inadequate lump sum for the lawful forty’ per cent as the Federal Govern- ment’s share of Capital expenses. The Cramton bill merély continues this in- equity, but emphasizes it by contrast. For, while the bill definitely affirms the principle of fixed ratio for Maryland and Virginia in financing park pur- chase and development, it places upon the District the sole responsibility of eeting similar expenses within the District, with the unwritten understand- ing that the Federal Government's share will be a proportionate part of ‘whatever Congress chooses to contrib- ute to the annual District supply bills. Inequities in the Cramton bill, as well as in the financing of other proj- ects, should be removed by materially increasing the lump sum or by return- ing to the lawful practice of consider- ing & fixed forty per cent as the Federal Government’s rightful contribution to Capital maintenance and development. ————— Assurance is given that the London conference will take all the time that may seem needful. In so important a matter there should, of course, be no hasty conclusions. ment becomes like a serial story, with promise of a bigger thrill in each suc- ceeding instaliment. * A Glider Experiment. Another method of leaving an airship in full fiight has been successfully tested by the Navy. Yesterday at Lake- hurst the huge dirigible Los Angeles took the alr. Beneath its hull hung suspended one of the newest gliders. { good fighters. Such, in effect, was the Discussion of prohibition mm‘ct-' & is agitating the entire counfry. Mr. Fort comes forward as a firm friend of national prohibition, but also as & mod- erate, who does not believe that it is a crime to take a drink. His plan is to Taise the bars to the extent of permit- ting those persons who wish to drink light wines and beer to make them for their own use in their own homes. He would not lower an inch the bar against commercial traffic in alcoholic bever- ages. For generations and centiries men ‘THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. ereates for him an atmosphere of clean- fallure and despondency, which so often are the prime factors in such states, are reduced to & minimum, ‘There is 1o need to Justity judgmehts of character based on appearance. A thousand homely adages tell us how fallacious is the procedure. It leads to constant confusion. An mankind, in fact, lives in & continuous contusion of reality and the overt manifestations of reality. But the fact remains that this con- fusion is not confined to the rest of mankind with whom an individual comes in contact.. It oceurs in the mind of the man himself. He finds it easier to take himself at the valuation of the looking glass than at the valuation reached through rigid self-analysis. He fashions his conduct after this looking glass valuation and shapes the rest of his world, 30 far as he is able, to con- form to it. Such is the case with the soldier. We have a traditional picture in our minds of the man of arms—a colorful, impressive picture, To this picture we attach certain characteristics such as courage, loyally, dash and patciotism. These are natural constituents of the behavior pattern of which the physical picture of the traditional soldier is the nucleus. Now this same picture exists in the mind of the soldier—only it is a picture of himself. II the reality of his ap- pearance is greatly at variance with the traditional picture, he feels himself out- side the pattern of behavior which it calls for. Dying for one’s country may be a glorious thing if it is done in the proper setting—that is, in the pattern estab- lished by tradition for such a demise, ‘The individual sublimates the um- pleasant prospect of it into the emo- tional complex which has been created around it. But dying for one's country outside the traditional pattern is a very messy procedure, not greatly relished by he: roes. . The point is that the-uniform is per- haps the most essential part of the whole “soldier” pattern. But it is well to bear in mind always that the uniform should be that of a soldier and not that of an usher in a moving pieture theater. There s a subtle difference which the fighter would be likély to, feel, if not recognize. ———ee An opportunity is given by the Com- munity Chest to make charity not only the expression of the generous impulse which all right-minded persons feel, but to make it scientifically and systemati- cally effectual. . In order to be an ideal agent, & pro- hibition operative should be the perfect social type, eligible to invitation in any household where the butler may be i sE9F L g thing past, and it was to put the saloon of business that the eighteenth amendment was adopted. The question presented is how to put the boot- ‘and the speakeasy out of busi- g . Fort argues-that if the making of beverages in the home should to be law-abiding rather than to be Iaw-breakers of to encourage law-break- ing, and second, because it would be far more economical for them to make their tant prices demanded by the bootlegger. . he urges, restore the “personal liberty” ' which many insist has been denied them by absolute prohibition. Years ago it was possible to purchase game birds in the markets. The sale of these birds is now prohibited by law. But it is possible now for the individual to have game birds on his table, in season, provided he kills them himself. It is the traf- fic in ‘game birds at which the law aims, and the effort through the law is to protect the ‘birds and prevent them from extermination. It is' the that the eighteenth amendment aims to eliminate. ‘Whether Mr. Fort's suggestion be adopted or not, it has set the pace for a calmer consideration of the prohibi- tion tangle. Millions of thinking people in this country are anxious for a com- mon sense solution of the problem, which will at once prevent a recurrence of legalized commercial traffic in liquor and do away with the tremendous vol- ume of illegal liquor traffic that has now developed. - Probably it will never be possible to do away entirely with all illegal liquor traffic. It flourished even in the days of the wide-open saloon. ————— et A question of insanity is so fre- quently brought up in eonnection with homicide cases that the faithful news- paper reader is entitled to credit for maintaining his own life, in most in- stances, as a prolonged lucid interval. —————— Human courtesy forbids any elaborate reference to the individual who, not so many weeks ago, was predicting a mild Winter. e et Arms and Uniforms. Boldiers must be well dressed to he effect of a recent statement of Gen. Summerall, Army chlef of staff, to a House subcommittee. The military leader’s long and intel- ligent observation of the behavior of men in the ranks hardly could have led traffic in liquor, according to Mr. Fort, | inadvertently serving cocktails, — e ‘While royal families are not as power- ful as formerly in politics, they must still be eredited with holding the world'’s most brilliant weddings. —— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON, The_ Snow-Bound Bird. My -jaunty friend of Summer days; ‘Who sweetly sang in perfumed shade, The Winter's melancholy ways . Have left yoy sorrowing and dis- mayed. 8o when T pause to dine anew Tl find a bit to share with you, ' There comes a season of regret When light frivolities must end. contribute to | OWn beverages than to pay the exorbi- | Those happler hours Tl mot forget, ‘When youy were just a joyous friend. the appro- | The plan advanced by Mr. Fort would, | I earnest of a friendship true TNl find & bit to share with you. Useful in an Emergency. “You seem inclined to speak kindly of the lobbyist!” “Iir some degree,” answered Senator Sorghumi. “He is the fellow on whom we can place the blame if something happens #o go wrong with legislation.” Jud Tunkins says an agriculturist who listens to all the political speeches and reads all the farm bulletins may forget to make money. He's s0 busy cultivatin’ his mind that he hasn't time to cultivate the. soil. New Year Resolution. ‘That resolution wearies me, Although my best I've done. At least, as good as new you'll be In nineteen thirty-one. Quotations. “It is amazing to find so much poetry quoted,” remarked the constant reader. “That is not hard to explain,” an- swered . Miss Cayenne. “A financial friend informs me that sooner or ‘later almost any product will have its chance in a bull market.” “The word of authority,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “is often futile, You may cosx a flower to grow, but you cannot command it.” Commercial Relativity. The tariff brings abstruse debate And often leaves us in a plight. On good friend Einstein let us wait To get the mathematics right. “I likes to speak my mind,” said Uncle Eben, “but I mostly finds it a waste of time, ‘specially to & mule” Well, Who Wouldn't? From the Tulsa World. Young Senator La Follette finally found a Senate precedent he could in- dorse—the one vzllch gave him a place on the finance committee. How to Dodge Work. Prom the Duluth Herald. to any other conclusion. It is not strictly true that clothes make the sol- dier, but they have a lot to do with it. ‘The psychic effect of dress in every- day 1ife is & matter of common experi- ence. The ordinary procedure for In the cabin with the other officers was Lieut. Ralph 8. Barnaby, the Navy's only glider pflot. At three thousand feet Lieut. Barnaby dropped through a hatch into the cockpit of the motorless plane and. signaled - for -its release. “putting & man on his feet” starts with providing him a new suit, on the ap- parently justified theory that he will try to adjust his conduct to his appear- ance. We know that the world at large with which he comes in ordinary con- “Twelve minutes later he made & perfect | tact will judge an individual by his’ap- landing in the snow on the fleld, thus | pearance. It has no other criterion by marking the success of a-long planned | which to judge him. It cannot look for experiment of the Navy. the real man inside his skin except ‘With a motored airplane having been | with long and intimate acguaintance. for dropping off passengers witho »® Ianding. The parachute, the clean snd prosperous, The A lazy rule is to let the neighbor on m flz shovel the snow first. If either of them shovels 3 inches over the lot line, you win. Before—Or After? From the Harrisburg Telegraph. ‘The aviator who recently executed 19 outside loops mmgmh:'n felt like the man who has just & review of his Christmas bills. The Quickest, Too. From the Toledo Blade. i e e g e s n ), way of disposing o{ i, ) THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. It was a cold, dismal morning, but we brightened up immediately we got hold of our favorite New York paper. The glowing, enthusiastic words about new books—would they not brighten the day for any one? All was sparkling, rosy,.in the land of the book reviewers. Carefully we cull another nosegay of bouquets for the conservative Wash- ingtonian who wants to see how the thing is done elsewhere: “I very much doubt if there is a finer nearest approach to A pes tribution to English literature published within recent months. * ly imaginative study. 108e rare lumes.” “A talent vivid and versatile, fluid and flamelike.” . original a per- u'fis season.” “A breathless story—as formance as I have read “Its Leauty and restraint places it amoug the few truly great novels of this country.” “A permanent achievement.” “Undoubtedly one of the significant French novels of our epoch.” “A vast epic—one of the richest achievements in the history of litera- ture.” “Colossus.” * * ko What we particularly like about all this is the superabundance of the thing. It is not just abundance in a land given over to the greatest display of mass making and buying in the history of the world. . It is superabundance, full measure, pressed down and running over. It is the proverbial baker's dozen with one or two more added. Here in the book reviewers' world we have nothi that is not great. thing less in colossal is not worth about. ‘Without question and undoubtedly we are breathless, vivid, versatile, fluid and flamelike. In one of those rare moods which formerly came only in dreams—and only in certain types of dreams, at that —we find ourselves flamelike to the highest_degree. We had always wondered what it ‘would be like, this flaminosity, this con- suming vividness, this monumental vastness. And now we know. * We read those New York book re- \iews. Ok Some cynical reader may suspect that we are jealous, but not a bit of it—not & colossal bit of it. Those reviews constitute as original a performance as we have read this season. Without question they are the nearest app! to a permanent con- tribution to the English language in recent months. And here is why, as we see it: ‘This is & dull, stodgy, cold and heart- less world, after all, isn't it? Mostly we are willing to admit it, especially on cold, dull, foggy days. It takes no ‘effort at all on such mornings to see the mote in our neigh- bor's eye. Mostly we perceive several motes. Nor is our good neighbor behind time with us, He tacitly lets us know that we, too, have motes, to say n of bea Even the rolling world is filled with 'em. Somehow the constructive efforts of humanity have resulted in negation or only a little progress compared with what might be. What we dream is so grand that we needs must evolve a heaven to hold it or to be it, we are not quite sure. * K K K Yet if mankind would agree—and this is the key to the problem—to speak as glowingly about each other as book reviewers do about each other's books or about the other fellow's book, we might see a near approach to Heaven here on earth, and with remarkably little effort. What the world needs is a Mars—to sible market in another planet for all {of us, each one of us would boost the other fellow to the limit, even to the stars. Salesmanship, knowing the value of a good address, as well as of dress, would see to it that each mortal of us put our best foot forward. If we actually hitched our wagons to the stars, we would need just such roll- ing, gorgeous words as those dear book reviewers use. “I very much doubt if there is a finer fellow than this,” we would say to the visiting committee of Martians as they genanuly inspected our old friend, Tom jones. We would be determined not to per- mit anything to be put over on Tom. “This man,” we would say, pointing to old Tom, standing there in his bat- tered old felt hat—"this gorgeous old fellow is without question the nearest approach to & real he-man yet to be found on earth—a deeply imaginative fellow; one of those rare bozos——" “And, ah! see well the dainty Mile. sell the earth to. If there were a pos- | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover Louis XTI of France has lurnmul: good material for romance—romance which he has figured not as a hero but as a villain. Scott in his “Quentin Durward” portrays Louls as the plous hypocrite, the cruel, capricious master, the political schemer without scruples gers. Alfred Neumann very re- cently made use of Louis as one of the two central figures in his romance “Ths Devil.” His picture resembles that of Scott in many particulars, but he'is especlally concerned with Louis the sensualist. Plerre Champion in his his- tory “Louls XI” gives another side of Louis, or another interpretation, that of Louis as & modern politician. When he came to the throne kingly power was weak. ‘The nobles of Burgundy and Brittany were more powerful than the King. Louis was galled by this state of affairs and did not tameiy submit to it. He warred on the Dukes of Burgundy and Brittany and duped them by the use of his more clever mind, Charles the Bold of Burgundy was his most difficult enemy, but he managed to defeat and outwit him and finally to establish the French mon- archy, which lasted until the French Revolution sent Louls XVI to the scaf- fold. Louis XI was also the first King of France to consider that the common people had a right to existence. Pos- sibly his ideas on the subject were in- fluenced by the fact that the common people furnished more taxes and more soldlers if they were fed than if they were starved, But Louis really liked peasants better than he did nobles. Scott represents him, with historical accuracy, as dressing like a peasant, frequenting the inns of the people in a w:fl known disguise and seeking the so- clety of persons of low degree. He had what today would be called business ability and organized the affairs of France on a more businesslike basis, an important feature of which was the ex- tract of taxes from the Lightoes, at once vivid, versatile, fluid and flamelike. Her dancing is original story—as original a perform- “And here is old Henry Beans, a ver- itable colossus of & man—and our friend.” * ok ko Instead of this, what do we do? What do we ali do? You know—we all know. We assent with civil leer—when we have to. We damn with faint praise, but then only when we must. Mostly we keep still, if it is at all feasible. We think we are terribly civilized when we refrain from open assault on a , on the specious plea that he, too, is earning his living. But the New York book reviewers knnn“ k- wr! gentlemen. Honey drips from their pens, so that no man who writes a book need fear the gall and wormwood of criticism. Criticism herself has gone Pollyanna, and everihod.v is happy about it. 8o might we all be, whether we dealt in bolts, muts or ideas, if we had as much common sense as those gentle book reviewers. See how they bend the knee and bow to one another. It is a breathless, vivid, original performance in an age sup- to be dedicated to dollars and to nothing else. Colossal, s0 one might say. Reference to “Lower House” Starts Friendly Discussion Speaker Nicholas Longworth's protest against reference to the House of Repre- sentatives as the “Lower House” of Con- gress has a considerable comment of & not too serious nature. A typical reaction to use of the terms “upper” and “lower” is expressed by the Cincinnati Times-Star, which views the terms as once having ‘“‘described the House of Lords and the House of Com- mons of Great Britain, but are not to be found in our Constitution, and never fitted here.” That paper contends: “In theory and often in fact a Senator is a more important political person than a Representative, because the one nrre- sents an entire State, the other only a district of the State. But the body of which a Representative is a part is quite as important as the = Senate. Though the Senate has the sole power to confirm or reject presidential ap- pointments, ‘the House has the sole power to originate bills for raising reve- nues, and without revenues governments cannot exist. Senators fewer, more loquacious, and, by and large, more can- tankerous than Representatives; -also they are more conspicuous and influ- ential in the national party conven- tions.” * ok ok X Assuming that “in the early days the distinction came about because - the members of the Senate then were chosen by legislatures, while those of the House were _ elected popular vote,” the Charleston Daily Mail says of the de- velopment of their respective standings: “There was a time which we can re- member when the Senate, considered the more deliberative and steady body, 'was relied on to act as a check on what was considered the more emotional House, but today the Senate is quite as emotional as thé House ever was, and there are even times when the House appears be more stable than the Senate. ~Theoretically, at least, House is the equal of the Senate. ‘The wers conferred on it the Constitution are certainly equal. The consent of the House on legisla- tive acts is on a par with that of the Senate so far as enacting legislation is concerned, while the general public of today will be apt to conclude that in other things as well the House of Rep- resentatives is the equal of that body.” A somewhat different position is taken by the Youngstown Vindicator, which remarks that “the House appears to be rather sensitive all at once over what has come to be an accepted cus- tom in making reference to &he two branches of Congress. It is a little sur- prising, however,” continues that paper, “that the Speaker in invoking authori- ties to support his contention overlooked the fact that Representatives and Sen- ators are on an equality when it comes to salaries.” * kK ok ‘The Kansas City Star agrees that “so long as the Representatives get as good pay as Senators they have no real kick coming. And if they have ‘monorail car to transport them through the tun- nel from the Capitol to the House Office Building,” continues the Star, “that is their own affair. They probably need the exercise. But so long as the Sena~ tors have the predominant say about the appointment of district attorneys and marshals and United States judges and ambassadors, while the Representa- tives have to content themselves with postmasters, and so long as Senators can talk longer without reaching for a %M of water mnnr‘x‘ 'mmben ol‘n the louse, we fancy Speaker Long- worth is going to have a job to induce the country to cut out reference to the ‘Lower House.’ " “Ohio’s favorite observes the Houston Chronicle, “insists that his House has ‘sole’ authority to originate the | cludes the Hartford Courant, “in an arrangement which. achieves efficiency by rigorously subordinating individual inclinations to the regulation of the dominant ma- chine. Some even cast their eyes long- ingly down the corridors toward the Senate chamber, where a man can open his mouth to express an opinion as well as to vote.” e Springfleld Republi- can sees a difference in favor of the Senate in the age for election, the citi- zenship rflod required, the length of term and the approval of treaties and pointments. That_paper continues: “It is true that the House initiates all revenue bills, but the Senate rewrites them. ;l‘lbl; - cu':’unrve the Galx. ernment ng to pass appropria- tion bills, but so can the sen&: ‘The House has gagged itself, while the Sen- ate can still talk its head off—which makes the Senate far more attractive to most public men. Most convincing, however, is the fact that nearly all Representatives are glad, if not eager, to me Senators.” % dpg_olnfinwnu as - & -rule are of broader interest than the ordinary run of legislative acts, and international projects have been to the fore in un- usually large volume in the last 11 years,” ests the South Bend Trib- une, wh the Kalamazoo Gazette points out that “the very word ‘Senate’ comes originally from the Latin term ‘senex’—the root ‘'of our familiar word ‘senior'—and has been used for cen- turies to designate the ‘elder states- men,’ whose judgment is supposed to be more mature and somewhat more highly valued than that of their younger Xm . n.‘k:' b 48 Altho\llhh the peaker may not agree that the qualifications for the United States Sen- ate are higher than those for the House of Representatives, he cannot deny that are more difficult to meet.” “In a critical summing up,” con- cl St. Louis Globe-Democrat, “the Senate would be found to have in national affairs every right the House has or its equivalent, and also powers denied the House in international’ af- fairs. Unless the old definition of news is wrong, the dealings of the House with our owa home concerns ought to be followed with much the larger interest, and still it has happened in recent ex- ceptional years that foreign questions have engaged much the greater public attention.” Jury Drinking Right Opens Way for Abuse From the Anniston Star. The .decision of the South Carolina Supreme Court that the jury in a pro- hibition law trial has a right to drink the evidence in order to determine without doubt whether the beverage in guestion is intoxicating Mas given rise to some interesting comment and spec~ ulation. The Charlotte News suggests facetiously that possibly the decision “is exactly the stimulus needed to create a more popular interest in serving the courts in this capacity.” ‘The ruling was made by the court in denying the appeal of an alleged boot- legger who asked that the conviction be get, aside on the ground that the jury that convicted him drank 49 bottles of the beer he was accused of selling. To the layman, it would seem that the jury in this case was going too far in sam)] the evidence. ‘e can feadily see how a bootlegger, or anybody else for that. matter, could object to having his fate decided by a group that had imbibed s0 freely, ‘al- thou{h they may have been law in tasting the intoxicating drink. revenue bills. True enough,” replies the | expert in Chronicle. “And the Senate the nerve and impudence occasionally to alter them to a point beyond recogni- tion by the Representatives who first|not sponsored them. Somi like that has happened to the present tariff bill. It is passed in jig time by the House, which recognized its master's voice and Jum through the hoop when Nick cracl the whip. But the Senate has been leisurely picking the bill to pieces amid a running fire of debate which has made the headlines all over the Nation and imfiuled on many folks the ides that House proposes and the Senate disposes. Tt deciding that l.l7ty, but did it call for ‘This ruling doubtless is in accordance with the 1aws as they exist. But we can see how the way may have been opened for abuses. M jurors might not be Srapiying il the ‘portey fn et on em| al les in sl ., Jusf as the jury in the case under considera- tion is said to have done. It Is P't'¢'ly Good. the Om: orld-Herald. sl Louls XI by M translated and adapted 'ns Whale, * K k% Bellef in witchcraft as one of many folk beliefs, with all its horrible conse- quences, is described by George Lyman Kittredge in “Witcheraft in Old and New England.” Prof. Kittredge indi- cates two sources of the belief in witches—the belief among all primitive peoples that supernaturally some evil- minded persons could do harm to others, and the bellef that disease arosc from some supernatural cause. Witch- craft in New England was of the same type as in Old England, and was by no means of Puritan origin. It was almosi universal at the time, and had a long ancestry from primitive times. *To be- lieve in witchcraft in the seventeenth century was no more discreditable to a man’s head or heart than it was to believe in spontaneous generation er to be ignorant of the germ theory of dis- ease.” In spite of the many notes and citations in this book, it is'a most in- teresting narrative of the Ang history of a superstition which is not yet extinct. * ok ok % “John Gay's London,” by ‘Willlam Henry Irving, conveys the impressioin that ~eighteenth century London was even less safe than the traffic masze which London is today. Highwaymen and gangsters of various sorts so in- fested the streets by night that pedes- trians hesitated to venture out, and even the aristocratic occupants of sedan ‘chairs were often assaulted and rubbed. The coffee houses and gaming resoris were the chief haunts of the man about wvn‘ finnd'in the!n.p‘:ohnl Gly.(lxtlwr of * ggar’s 'a,” lost a fortune, ,:m: his popularity in London society rooms, as wel as in the coffee houses, and in the play houses, of course, he was always a welcome figure. Gay also knew London street life and told something of it in his find recreations cheaper than those zflorde( by the theaters, swarmed %o itness the hangings at Tyburn, which ‘Wwere numerous enough to salisty the most sensationally minded, * ko ok Myths of th-'\mmplre are related and explained, as far as superstitipns can [b: explained, by Montague Summers in “The Vampire.” Vampire traditions were extant among the ancient Babylo~ nians and ‘ssyrians, the peopies of Palestine, th« sarly Mexicans, the Chi- nese, Malays snd peoples of India, snd are by no means non-existent today. The most common tradition is that of the vampire corpse which comes forth from its grave at night and sucks the blood of a living victim, who is then mn turn condemned to be a vampire after death, Some traditions nbaptised, the ex-communicated and suicides had this fate awaiting them. A Yery inter- esting chapter is “The Vampire in Lit- erature,” which gives examples of the vampire theme in poetry, drama and romance. This book would be a great discovery for a teller of tales of hoiror, like Poe or some later counterpart, or cven amateurs who desire a gruesome story with which to entertain a fireside audience on Halloween or a similar festival, & * Kk % ‘The odd title, “The Salt-Box House,” used by Jane de Forest Shelton for her book the subtitle of which is “Eight- eenth Century Life in a New England Hill Town,” needsexplanation. A salt~ box house is a house sup) Lo look like & Colonlal salt box, with the ridge- pole le far forward and the roof sloping in the rear to the firsi siory. This book is the history of a famiiy which built one of these houses in 1758 in Connecticut and lived there for scv- eral generations. * Kok Ok Charles Nordhoff, whose books “The Pear] Lagoon” and “The Derelict” rc- cord the adventures in the South Seas of one Charles Selden, knows intimate- 1y the scenes which he describes. After the war, during which he served in the Lafayette Escadrille and was awarded the Croix de Guerre, he migrated to Tahiti with his friend James Norman Hall. Mr, Nordhoff married a Tahiti girl and has become thoroughly accii~ mated in the South Seas. leads an existence which is a mingling of trop- ical leisure and Occidental work, writing every morning and spe: his after- noons and evenings in fishing and studying ethnology and oceanic philol- ogy, his hobbies. * ok ok W “Hobnails and Heather,” by Clifton Lisle, with an introduction by Sir Rob- ert Bade: well, is the story of the first international American Boy Scouts' hike in 1927. The story is dedicated to “the fifteen Eagle Scouts of Troop 1, Paoll,” Boy Scouts from Paoli, Pa., who wrote to Sir Robert Baden-Powell ask- ing about camping ibilities in Eng- land. They were 'lven encouragement and went over to England for their first great adventure. “Hour after hour we pressed through the heather, pausing on the tors gow and then for a view, but always wing northward. Trip- pers miss this as they rush from Plym- within the | } outh to London. They miss the scent of the whortleberry bush when noon hollows in a y eery calling ol the rooks where quaking bogs are F“ with rushes and moor.trout, black- scaled and sly, lurk in the pools of the Plym or the Swincombe.” * K ok K “An Anthology of World Poetry,” edited by Mark Van Doren, includes poems from 18 world literatures and 480 Poets. Some of the Poe of China, Japan, Egypt, Persia, Arabia, the Hebrews, Greece, Rome and of the modern European countries is & place, on india paper, a ven ‘There are 1,400 pages, printed h for a library to carry on a trip. e translators arc themselves poets. Among them ar: Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Chaj man, Milton, Herrick, Dryden, Shelley, Byron, d Pitzgerald, Rosseti! ,wm Blunt and Ar- and the superstitious patron of astrolo- { Peopl ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ). BASKIN. S & minute and think about this 'mlgp You can ask our information bureau any question of fact and get the answer back in a pelnonfl leg:‘er. It is “part of that best readers. It is & part of :xrrpue of & newspaper—service. There is no charge except 2 stamps for return . Get the habit, of asking questions. Address your letter to The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, ‘Washington, D. C. Q. What was United States to cess?—A, C. C. A 1 Tyler's comedy, “The Con- trast,” acted in 1787, was the first American play to achieve a box-office success. It was also the first dramatic work to introduce the character since known as the stage Yankee, Q. What is the largest sum for which & money order is issued?—B. B. A. The maximum is $100. There is no limit, however, to the number of money orders which can be issued in one day to one person. e first play in the have a. box-office suc- Q. How many lives are lost in the United States in fires?—T. C. C. “A Fires cost annually about 15,000 ves, Q. What is the difference between the Japanese hairy chestnut and the Chinese hairy chestnut?—D. A. A. There is a Chinese hairy chestnut and a Japanese chestnut, but no Japa- chestnuts are being brought to this country in the hope that they will re- place our chestnut trees which were de- stroyed by a blight. While the trees ;nwnvwly and do not bear a good crop or about 10 years, they are believed to be sturdier than the Ja) chestnuts, which bear in two or three years. o Q. How can quicksilver be purified from the dirt that is in it?—G. L, A. The Standards that dirt can be removed from mercury by shaking it up in a bottle with a small amount of cane sugar and then filtering off the mercury through a pin- hole in a paper cone. ~However, if the mercury is contaminated with metallic impurities dissolved in it, it- will soon become dirty in if left in contact with air. Such mercury should be lhnlke;xn with dilute nitric acid for nz eral hours, or even days, in order dissolve the base metals. Q. Who invented the Cherokee al- phabet?—H. 8. A. It was invented by the Indian, Chief Sequoyah. Q. Who is Lloyd Paul Strykes, au- th:z: oI!l "findr?' Ju‘klon"?—'lr\’. ?n =) e a lawyer, rudcln‘ lew Y.ork. mmml:chlunl\uul, lo-Saxon | 1885. . Is the Swastika an anclent 4 17—M. H. e In the fashionable draw- | an that peo- | Ambassador the prehistoric bur in the limits of the United States. It is also considered a good-luck emblem by many people, ds the $1 bllls?—W. Gt only two kinds of ink $1 bills. The are ited with of the bill with Q. What is the origin of the expres- sion ';uu & person down s peg"?— N. L, P, To “take & person down 7 ihip's kg, which o romuloie 2 4 fi"u regulated by a nese hairy chestnut. The Chinese hairy |~ Q. What is the address of the presi- floenlcI nlt’ the American War Mothers?— 'A."The president of the American War Mothers is Mrs. Virgil McClure, 133 Forest avenue, Lexington, Ky, t i e 'r.%. Whll 4 noncupatife will?- M :l'l l:’ nm:::“““m‘:uct iu one ‘mnd- orally by a idier ve service or by & mariner while at sex, Q. What do “W'"and “K” mean be< fore ‘the letters of a radio station?— A. The Department of Commerce | says “W" and “K.,"” radio station letters, have no particular meaning, - The phabet has been divided. F. J. D, country, * | difficult to locate the station. Q. How is neon obtained?—E. W. A. The process by which neon {is made today is very similar to that by which Sir Wiliam Ramsay first found . When he distilled liquid air, chilled to a temperature of more than 400 de- grees below zero Fahrenheit, he ob- served the gas bolling off, and named 1t neon. In factories today it is made | by chilling air until it becomes a clear, bluish-white liquid and then capturing the neon as it evaporates. Q. A year.ago I sent a bond pur- chased from the Society for the Inde- pendence of the Irish Republic to their office, but have not received any money for "l"' )v‘wm is being done at present? A. The legation of the Irish Pree State says that the distribution of the funds which were the proceeds of the sale of the Irish Republic bond certifi- cates was placed by the New York Su- preme goun\n the hands of receivers, whose Dffices are‘at 117 Liberty street, New York City. Xt is further undet- stood that a partial distribution of these funds is now being e. In any case, application to the. address given should be made for further information, Q. What are the names of the operas which are to be produced by the Metro~ pomll}hopel‘l Co| t.'vnt mu";‘?—-fl, R0 le repertoire for the Spring tour has not yet been arranged. ' Q. How many cities in the United States have city managers?—T. P. A. The city manager form of govern- ll;&n@ in 1929 had been adopted in 392 cities, i tne “Hiernal LightT In ew Yok e pr w e n through electric lights. lights are attached to circuits in such a manner that if one Aanother automatically will begin functioning. . H G Q. mmfl’?i’ffl?n‘dfllq A. Aubert estimated the solar speq- tram to ‘contain_abont, 1,000 distin- guishable _hues, o Rood, 3,000,600 tints and hhades ca be derived. ) Q. Does the ¥ M. G, & 4 ¢ ndence_school?—T, O' Ao Univeraity s over ' the “wducational -work by corre- ice which. . was formerly con- ) did the husking bee t hu::n}':iesi:‘ t l° :z % not gone. In tact, husking today is lar and, due to the recent grl.u- offered, more table than in former times. It s true that husking bees are not the big social event of,the Fall season that they were a generation or so ago. Radlo, automobiles and ,’f roads have changed the but | - husking is highly com| & , and sef States make & of the corn Husk- ing contest. i L LONDON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. Cynics were plentiful who saw an omen in the fog which enveloped Lon- don the day the Five-Power Naval Con< ference opened, on January 21. It was the first real “pea soup” of, the :'r‘l'd :zwt the worst in a res mal suggestion was heard the conference was born in the atmos- phere of confusion and contention which would befog it from start to finish. T ‘historic oceasion. The American envoy's place was the only one unoccupied at the horseshoe table of delegates when King George entered the royal gallery of the House of Lords. Gen. Dawes’ au- tomobile, like thousands of other ve- hidles in London, became fogbound and he did not reach his. destina after the King's speech was over, * ok kX Britain’s might, splendor, glory and dignity a itomized in the “golden chamber,” which was the scene of the conference’s formal opening. It is used only for extraordinary occasions. A few weeks ago the royal gallery was a ban- quet hall, when several hundred wear- ers of the Victoria most distinguished badge of valor—sat at dinner with the Prince of Wales. No room in England is adorned with more striking reminders of what the King called “the grim and immense tragedy of war.” Directly behind his throne was a fresco & hundred feet long, de- pictipg the death of Nelson at Trafal- gar.” Ahead of him, on the wall, he faced another ~monumentdl painting. “La Belle Alliance.” commem- orating the meeting of Wellington and Blucher at Waterlpo, In the foreground of both the naval and military. pictures are the torn res of dying and wounded men herded amid the wreck- age of battle. * ok ok ok George V is a fine speaker, His volce wcarries with particular clearness over the radio. There is no trace in his dic- tion of the German accent which mark- ed King Edward’s speech. Though he almost invariably talks from manu- script, George has the faculty of stress- ing the right words with the proper emphasis, introducing into his remarks a note of real oratory. The King took part in an offcial ceremony for the first time in more than a year when he launched the Naval Conference. No one who didn't know he was a very sick man less than six months ago would have guessed it from his appearance on January 21. He looked well, strong and happy. The King was almost the | were holding an informal levee. The 1, | yarn for th only man in the whole august assem- blage clad in a frock (Prince Albert) coat. Nearly everybody else wore the morning cutaway outfit. It appéars the ancient frock is still the top-notch official coat for exalted occasions. * ok ok ok Everybody in the’ American delega- tion, who doesn't know her already, is anxious to meet Lady Astor, M. P. Al the prime minister's reception for the conference di tions, on the evening of January 20, viscountess expressed an eager desire to meet Senator Robin- son of Arkansas, “I want to see a good Democrat for a change,” the vivacious Virginian said to a compatriot. She was escorted to the drawing room in which Secretary Stimson and his colleagues Arkansan having been presented, Lady Astor exclaimed, almost before the for- malities were completed: “Hello, Democrat! You know, I'm a Democrat, too"—a reference to her political an- cestry in the Old Dominion. * ok % y Stimson spun a Lady ‘A:g: newspaper orge. Washington, They'd Secref the empire's | Labo: 't | as the last sentence of her letter ment, to meet the American dele T AR A sy Shes Tady Astor can tell you a story abou and Plymouth, one of her ele¢- tion campaigns she was opposed by ‘J. Thomas, a Labor leader, now & member of the Macdonald government. ‘What can you say against your op- ponent?’ a friend of Thomas ‘inquired. ‘My speech is all ready,” he answered. ‘It reads as follows: “Men of Plymouth, you once gave England a Drake. you now going to give her a duck?” * K ok ¥ London is as busy, as throbbing, as splendid as ever. Outwardly it gives small indication of the country's ece- nomic plight. Architecturally the city has been modernized and improved in all directions, Hotels, shops, theaters, nflfi&mmanfl Jymnm:u are crowd- apparent Pprosperous le. But these conditions are woefully i symptomatic of the.kingdom at large. In the industrial north things are about 8s desperate as they can be. Utter des- titution stalks h communities* like Innchuw’;. ueed& a ‘l’ord. Sheffleld, W, Newcastle, Diindee and scores of other towns in Lancashire, the Mid- lands ‘and Scotland. ‘The Macdonald r regime has perbaps not had & fair and full chance. during its eight or nine months of office, to ameliorate distress. The Midwinter session of Pare liament, which opened the same day as the Naval Conference, will find the prime minister under fierce fire unless some of his promised schemes for re- lieving unemployment materialize, * X o* % Conference Americans are delighted to find diplomatic London so full of men and women once stationed ‘in Washington. One of them, Ambassador Matsudaira of Japan, is a_conference delegate. Another, Prof. Timothy E, Smiddy of the Irish Free State, - sents his country at the conference. Baron de Cartler, the Belgian Ambas~ sador to Great Britain, was transferred to London from Washington. So was Dr. Alfred Sze, Chinese Minister to the Court of 8t. James. (Copyright, 1930.) ————— Blaming Prison Riots On Society Is Scored From the New York Sun. i A correspondent of the World invoks the “ancient spirit of English law, l&: spirit of fair play, in behalf of the prison leaders of t) utbreaks at Dan- nemora and Auburn, especially those: to be tried for their lives.” Furthe! in her communication this writer asks for a thorough and public investiga- ftion of the past history of these Tndi: cates, w':at h;lu ‘e‘ :l such an investi- 8 show “‘we, as members of polite \'"afe largely res| ible {for the riots at Danfiemora and Auburn, It would be useless to tell the writer of such a letter that polite society was not consulted about plans for of the riots, that polite society 35 not smuggle nuu into. the or ::a;{nllum nflldngtholln eepers hostages for escape and shoot down those who mpulcdw to e, v et B point ou e Spirc of faie ‘pay i Baoviie alr y provi most thorough an Euhllc. airing of the circumstances relevant to the rlots; or that the police in most stances could furn past “histories he men. Those who believe that criminals are the victims of might go a step further and say. all soclety is the victim of society.’ x‘lflg be a moreh’ mldut:onuntlon. explain why society, with last soul a vietim of 3 e‘t: aboard the 18 asked W] outh, R |