Evening Star Newspaper, March 19, 1930, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Editien. WASHINGTON, D. C WEDNESDAY. ... March 19, 1930 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor igan Bullding 8t London. rrier Within the City. by - cl‘l r A 45¢ ver fl!flfllfl e Evenine Btai ening and Sunday Star (when 4 Sundays) 60c per month The Evening and Sunday Star (when ndays) 88¢ per month St ¢ per inde r copy e at the end of each month. The Sunday Collection ders may be aent in by mall or telephone fAtional 6000, Rate by Mall—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Bally safy oener i dme inday only 24.00: 1 mo.. 40¢ All Other States and Canada alfy sa "t B ime i ay only 1vi. %500 1 mo Member of the Assoclated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitiea to the use for republication of all nows d Batches credited to it or not otherwise ited in this peper and also (he iocal news published erein Al rights of ublicaticn of special dispatches herein are also reserved. —_— e Employment Conditions. Unemployment conditions in the United States are the subject of dis- | cussion before the Senate commerce | committee, which has under considera- tion bills offered by Senator Wagneri of New York to aid in preventing un- employment. One of Senator Wagner's measures looks to the creation of a re- search bureau in the Department of Labor to collect data on unemployment. There should be the fullest possible in- formation regarding employment condi- tions in this country at all times. Sena- | tor Wagner has proposed also that a! great Federal employment system be built up to aid in keeping labor em- ployed, and that money be set aside each year for the development of pub- Mc works in times of depression, when | many men may be out of work. ‘The New York Senator, while declaring the employment situation in this coun- | try today is serious and has never been | more serious, admitted that President | Hoover's conferences with leaders of in- | dustry, labor and agriculture last Fall| had served to prevent “mass hysteria.” | That is one of the main purposes for which the conferences were called. Had | “mass hysteria” developed last Fall and this Winter, the conditions in this, country would have been infinitely worse. Senator Wagner demanded ab- solute frankness in dealing with em- ployment conditions when conditions were anywhere near normal. Frankness and a constant painting ©of employment conditions in the black- est light, however, are not necessarily synonymous. It is true that there has been heavy unemployment during the Winter months. But it*is also true that with the approach of Spring conditions are showing improvement. The admin- istration has been criticized on the ground that it has put forward opti- mistic opinions regarding conditions. ‘The statements of the administration, however, have been largely in response to repeated attacks by its opponents who have endeavored to show unem- ployment conditions at their worst and who have predicted more evil conditions to come. It is quite true that it is impossible to place men in jobs merely by asserting that there are jobs which do not exist. But it is also true that 1yl |ers. 89 | nis friends. shone with brilliance. Later he was first dord of the admiralty. Then he was foreign secretary. It was a com- monplace saying during the time of his political activity that Balfour was the handy man of the British government, capable of doing well any work that was given him to do, always finished in his performances, never highly emo- tional, an effective compromiser, & sound man in any emergency; with no likelihood of losing his head in panic or unwise expedients. Balfour was always the scholar rather {han the politician. His speeches were delightful essays. He was no spell- binder, as we say in this country, no audience-sweeping orator, but a rea- soneér, a persuader. Always through his public utterances ran a vein of wit, and a discourse by him when he was In good form was a rare tréat for his hear- He made no enemies, although he was a stout Conservative partisan. A bachelor, he nevertheless led a so- cial life, his presence being sought by His brother, now aged seventy-seven, is his heir. Balfour's name will not be written, as high in the records of British states- manship as that of his uncle, Salisbury. But his memory will always be green and grateful, for he was an inspiring example of the scholar and the gentle- man in politics and statesmanship. et A Proposal to Retreat. ‘Washington schools should only. muve; forward. The drastic reorganization of kindergartens and kindergarten teach- ing methods, proposed in the District | appropriation bill now pending in the House, is distinctly a step backward. It is highly questionable whether, even in | consideration of the temporary expe- dient of gaining a few class rooms and | transferring kindergarten teachers to the primary grades, that step should be | taken. In brief, and for the information of those who have not followed the com- | mittee’s reasoning as portrayed in its report on the District bill, this is whfl!. the proponents of the scheme have in, mind: Data compiled by the United States Bureau of Education have in- dicated that Washington schools are| fortunate in the number of kinder-| garten pupils per teacher, as compared with the situation in other cities. ln‘ pursuance of an ideal that is sought by | these other cities, as well as Washing- ton, many of the kindergarten classes are “two-teacher” groups, but if these | “two-teacher” groups were split into| two separate classes, one morning and one afternoon, one teacher could handle | both and the other teacher would be released for other duty. Where two classes occupy two class rooms they | could be made to occupy one class room by using it between them, morning and afternoon, except where the unwieldi- ness of a class of 50 or 55 makes this impracticable. In addition, Washing- ton has five experimental under-age Kkipdergartens, where puplls are ad- mitted at the age of four instead of the | standard age for Washington children of five. | The District bill proposes to split two- | teacher groups into two classes, release | thereby & teacher, in some instances gain a class room and abolish the un- der-age kindergartens. The effect is this: Seven rooms will be gained for use by higher elemen- tary grades. Seventy-eight kindergar- | ten teachers will be transferred to work | in the elementary grades. Kindergarten by a constant reiteration of prophecies of business depression it is possible to bring on “mass hysteria” and reduce the number of jobs open to employment. * Senator Wagner has been a student of employment conditions. He has been interested in legislation to stem unemployment in times of depression and he is earnestly advocating such legislation. He is entirely sincere in what he s seeking to do. He halls from the greatest city in the world, a city in which millions are employed, and where bread lines are found every ‘Winter, due in part to seasonal un- employment. His efforts to better ~on- ditions are worthy of hearty support. ‘The Department of Labor, however, has been and is at work collecting data and alding in every way it can to bring employment back to normal. The Pres- ident has taken a lead dn the effort to stem depression. They are entitled to commendation for what they have done, not criticism. Yet with a political campaign coming on there are plenty to rise and paint conditions as black as possible. This may be good politics, but it is not calculated to aid the work- ing man. It is one thing to ventilate & condition in order to improve it and another to shout criticism from the house tops merely to gain political ad- vantage. { ————————— | As a Pennsylvania statesman Senator 1 Grundy is strong for various kinds of protection, including self-protection ———— Prominence of sugar in tariff discus- sion is another of those innumerable re- minders that history repeats itself. N Balfour. Arthur James Balfour, first earl of the name, is dead in England at the age of nearly eighty-two. He will be deeply mourned by the people of Great Britain, for he was a valuable public servant, a cultured gentleman, a dl&-l tinguished statesman and an ardent patriot. His last public service was | that rendered as head of the British | delegation to the Washington ccnffl'v‘ ence in 1921-22, at which he acted with | grace and skill in the negotiations for | naval limitation' and with a greater measure of success than he was imme- diately accorded. Since then, for the past eight years, he has been in retire- ment, engaged in literary pursuits and enjoying the declining years of his life in placid contemplation. Placidity was Balfour’s keynote. He was never a forceful man in debate, though not ineffective. He was not the powerful figure of the Marquis of Salis- bury, his mother’s brother, whom he served faithfully and in numerous ca- pacities throughout the coincidence of his own career and that of the head of the house of Cecil. As private sec- retary to his uncle at the age of thirty, after a brief parliamentary career, he gained an intimate knowledge of the hours will be shortened from three hours to two hours and a half. Some children who now attend school in the morning will go in the afternoon instead. Some of the difficulties in connection with this proposal are that a proportion of normal school students graduating this June are immediately denied oppor- tunity for employment in the Washing- ton schools, The kindergarten teachers designed for transfer to elemenhry‘ school work have been trained for kin- dergarten teaching, have specialized in that field and, after several years perfect- ing themselves in kindergarten methods, must now give it up and take posititions in other grades. At least thirty kindergar- ten teachers who have specialized in the | work of giving tests in Miss Jessie La Salle'’s department will be lost for this work. Kindergarten teachers will re- ceive an extra amount of duty that will | make their task relatively undesirable | in addition to affecting the excellence | of their work. | As for the under-age groups, it will | be recalled that crowded conditions under the administration of former Supt. of Schools Thurston brought about a raise in the age limit for kindergarten children from four to five. “Under| age” in Washington is “school age” in| Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia and | perhaps other cities, which admit chil- | dren at the age of four. | Many of the gains in kindergarten teaching methods, made through the years and under the annual difficulty of convincing Congress of their merits, thus are to be lost. Washington takes | a step backward, merely because it has advanced further along the line than some other comparable cities. Why make this change so drastic? The plan, applied 1n part to some loca- tions where there is great owercrowd- ing and additional room is needed for older children, might have merit. Ap- plied to the kindergarten system as a whole, it means a loss of valuable ground gained. What is the aim--good schools with economy, or economy first, | with the schools adapting themselves as ' best they can? | r—or | Mergers are easily accomplished in | anance, but a coaliion in statesman- ship is a difterent matter. v -on Dirlomatic Immunity. The immunity granted to members of the diplomatc legations and embassies | at this and other capitals is a protec~ tion against annoyance and humilia- tion, and not a cloak to cover offenses | committed against the laws of the land | Were it not for this practice, which is | universal among the civilized nations, | the diplomatic representatives and their . aides might be endangered and seriously hampered in the discharge of their duties to their own countries. Unfor- tunately the immunity privilege is at times invoked to spare offenders from the consequences of ' their own mis- conduct. business of British government. His later assignments, at first because of his relationship to the leader of the Conservatives and eventually because of his own merits, covered a wide range of work. His talent at first bent most The very fact that members of the diplomatic service, on duty in other countries than their own, are thus pro- tected from the laws of the land In which they are engaged should caute {in any letter. For with immunity goes obii- gation, greater even than that which rests upon the citizens themselves. A case has just come to point in this city, which, as far as the facts are now developed, calls for the application of the higher law of diplomatic guest re- sponsibility. An attache of one of the embassies is accused of driving his motor car so recklessly and in such disregard of the rules and the signals that he caused the desperate, perhaps fatal, injury of a young man with whom he collided. He denles such conduct. Poliee research has brought forth evi- dence in his disfavor. Incidentally the chief of police has recently cited the fact that during some thirteen years no less than thirty-seven representatives of foreign embassies and legations in Washington have been stopped by police officers and warned of the viola- tion of various traffic rules, particularly driving while under the influence of liquor. It in this present instance it is estab- lished that the accident was due to the | reckless driving.of the attache he should be punished by removal from this sta- tion. That can be effected only through the action of his chief, with or Without the suggestion of the State Department, which lacks direct jurisdiction over the personnel of the legations and em- bassies. It is, indeed, to be expected that such action will, in case of proof of responsibility, be taken by the head of the diplomatic delegation without any prompting. The misconduct of any member of a diplomatic mission, legation or embassy reflects discredit upon the mission and upon the country from which it is ac- credited. Service at a foreign capital, | capacity, calls for the most scrupulous respect for the customs and statutes of that land, for the atoidance of any offense whatever, out of regard at least for the laws of hospitadity. e Good Work in Haiti. ‘The Forbes Commission, with remark- able dispatch, has settled a problem in Haiti that a few months ago seemed in- capable of any solution other than that which time alone would bring. It is un- wise to count chickens before they are hatched. But if the formula for agree- ment and future procedure in Haiti works out in practice as smoothly as its theory has been accepted, the United States will have rid itself of an onerous white elephant and the repub- lic of Haiti will have been restored to the hands of the people of Haiti. Both ends are equally desirable. The work of the commission afforded a striking example of what can be ac- complished by a form of governmental inquiry that has received so much prom- inence by reason of the favor it finds | with Mr. Hoover. The Forbes Commis- sion brought a new point of view in its approach to the Haitian muddle. It did not suffer the handicaps that lie in the prejudice and doubt buiit up through a close-up familiarity gained through in- timate experience. It went to Haiti, re- ceived from the people of Haiti their views on the pros and cons of the po- litical situation and the American occu- pation, made its decision on the basis of predominating thought of intelligent Haitians and created the method of pro- cedure to cut tape and let them have what they wanted. The commission has done fine work | in pointing out the road. The people of Haitl are put to the test in demonstrat- | ing their ability to travel it. ——eiage When two or three nations have found a basis for armament agreement there is assurance that a start has been made. Yet it is not so easy to arrive at the usyal formality of making it unanimous. B New methods of denaturing alcohol | are calculated to make the purehluri feel not only equally gullty with the vendor, but to render him the more re- pentant of the two parties. oo — By undertaking to promote atheism | the Soviets make the first use of a little | authority by trying to defy supreme authority. oot ‘Time off for good behavior was ac- corded Al Capone. A prison affords a confirmed racketeer little opportunity | for his favorite vices. B BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Return Engagement. The twilight curtain draws aside And shows the stars it sought to hide. Miss Springtime whispers sweet and lov That it will be a wondrous show. New constellations that draw nigh Tell wondrous stories in the sky, And for an orchestra we hear The frogs so resonant and clear. The blossoms make a splendid scene Where Earth is waiting all serene. Miss Springtime gently lets us know That it wil! be a wondrous show. No Unemployment. “You manage to keep busy.” “Look at that stack of mail,” answered Senator Sorghum. “A man in my posi- tion has many anxieties. But one thing he never suffers from is unemploy- ment.” Jud Tunkins says the razor ads are 50 attractive that there should be hair grower ads to go with them so that men could shave five or six times a day. Persistent Politics. The Communist has earthy cares Which call for words prolix, And even when he says his pray'rs, He's talking politics. Following Fashion. “I understand you are in favor of prohibition?” “I always was,” answered Uncle Bill Bottletop. “But I don’t set my opinions up ‘n deflance of other ideas. I've simply been lookin’ on and waitin’ for all the boosting to make it fashionable.’ “He who tells of his own merits," said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “reveals that he has not been sufficient- ly successful in iife to employ flatterers.” Expensive Hook-Up. My radio! My radio! ‘We said in tones of cheer, ‘ Free as the air” of thus and so— But now the air is dear! “Pindin’ fault," said Uncle Eben, “is strongly in the direction of finance, them to be most scrupulously careful in many a man’s way of tryin' to make de and as first lord of the treasury he their observance, in the spirit and the family believe be ain’ loafin’.” { THIS AND : ’ THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 1930. THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Amos 'n' Andy, like Pritz Kreisler and Charlie Sing, cannot be advertised, although the fame of the Chinese laundryman is confined to his street, that of the blackface pair to the United States, and that of the great violinist to the world. Hence the tremendous amount of writing that is being done about A & A. as they are coming to be known for short. Dignified college professors are penning learned articles upon them. Parents of little children are beginning to worry about them. During the past week three fathers of small boys have signified their increas- ing perturbation at the grammar which their little ones are learning from their nightly sessions with Amos 'n’ Andy over the radio. They should not worry. One of the reasons why children ltke A & A is the sublime indifference of that pair to grammar, as such, and no doubt they are right. Grammar is a necessary bore in the learning of one’s so-called mother tongue. ‘There never was & boy or gir! who liked the study of grammar—that is a pretty big statement, but we believe it is true—and there never will be one who will—that is an even bigger one, but boys and girls are pretty much alike, age after age. Children like A & A for all of the reasons that thcir elders do, but be- neath them, we are convinced, lies the healthy fact that they resent grammar, and are doubly delighted to find two grown-ups, who are so obviously ap- proved of by their parents, nightly making the most ouirageous grammati- cal blunders uncorrected. i A & A say “regusted” for disgusted. “sho” for sure, “sitchiaiion” for situe- tion, “incorpulated” for incorporated, ‘recuse me” for “excuse me,” “pro- trudin’” for intruding, “remission” for commission, “propalition” for proposi- tion, “repologize” for apologize, “unre- ployment” for unemployment, ‘“dose kind” for that kind, “I is” for I am, “recountant” for accountant, ‘“‘com- pilition” for competition, etc. An examination shows that while there are here some substitutions of similar-sounding words for the ones meant, an old s age device much-in use in slap-stick comedy, the majority of the novel forms used by A & A are strikingly original or based upon the ordinary grammatical mistakes made by poorly educated persons the worid over, We will grant the esthetic shock which plain bad grammar gives to the erage person who has received the erage educalion, or better than aver. age schooling, as such is conceived these United States. As a general thing poor grammi must be sugar-coated to make it ac- ceptable to such people. If a person of one’s acquaintance suddenly asks, “Don’t you want nothin' else?” there comes over the one questioned a sort of mental shrinking comparable only to that expcrienced when a hair is found in_the soup. If the same question is put by Amos to Andy, however, it becomes funny, such is the force of comedy, backed by the subtle mob psychology, which oper- | ates as surely over the air as any place else. No person listening in the qulec of his living room to a “national hook up” but remembers, although he mey not be exactly conscious of it, the mil- lions of other listeners out there, in the great “out there” which constitutes our far-flung country. We laugh at A & A in part, when we are not being scrious with them, for the same reason that we laugh at the black-face pair on the stage. What they say is funny in and of the situation: when we at'empt to tell it later to & friend, we all know how flat it falls. ‘Thus the queer words, which to many lis'eners seem utterly unlike any Megro dialsct they ever heard, so different as to constitute novelty and newness, as the very spice of the program. * ok k¥ Crime Commission’s Most Important Task The Spice of the program, we believe, be- | im cause secretly most listeners are in e Cingusned Trom the grammmr o rom mmar the books. ¥ Life, in other words, is a moving proposition, not something static, solidi- fied or petrified. The purpose of words is to make thought tangible. If thcy do that, they are words, and thei: talking or writing to a purpose. Grammar ca into being tp help out, that is ai Up to & certain point, by providing the rules of the e, a8 it were, it serves a real function, and safeguards thought from vulgarity. No one can sneer at grammar, or say it should not be. Without its rules, writing and talking would become men- tal anarchy. The danger comes when the rules are held to be greater than the game. Now, this is the age-old con- flict between the letter and the spirit, between the conservatives and the progressives, between the classicists and the modernists—between those, in brief, H}m differ as to the place of rules in . It takes no more than a casual glance into what we call English literature to see that most of it was written with a due regard for its rules of grammar., Few of its great writers use word groups without subjects and without predicates. Their sentences conform to the rules of grammar for sentence construction Very seldom, in the whole great range. do you find a real writer using a sen- tence without a verb. Sometimes he may do so, but in the main he sticks to the basic facts of his grammar as learned in school. When we, as readers, find some one deliberateiy making a practice of using so-called sentences without verbs, we may set them down 28 poor writers and let it go at that. ok ok % There is, however, a larger sense in which good grammar is & let and speaking. If he has something he wants 0 say, and is sure of his grammar, and knows that a deviation from it will help him express himself, he must be allowed to do so, and will be so allowed by all those who realize that thought is the greatest thing in the world next to love, In other words, the fair-minded man. instead of shrinking from a mistake in grammar, will consider the man who writes or speaks, and will be the first to give him credit for a deliberate misuse. instead of eagerly leaping to point out his “mistake.” It is exactly here, we belleve, that parents need have no fear for the pos: sible effect the grammar of ‘Amos Andy may have upon their offspring. The boys and girls are as well aware »s their parents of the differénce be- tween grammatical nicety and the great | joy of life which gets pleasure even from the misuse of the same. “My little boy used to speak cor- rectly,” a fond father sald, “but since he has gotten into the ‘I ain’t goin’ to do an it of saying nd ‘T'se regusted,’ ‘Sho, sho,’ and the rest of them ‘Fear not,” we would reply. “The kid is not being fooled a bit. He knrows English langua; innate joy of the same. His teachers will keep him in the straight and nar- row path, but A & A are giving him a glimpse into the divine truth. that words are not for grammar, but gram- mar is for words. “If children did not possess more common s°nse than they are given credit for. they would suffer more than they do from all the vulgar, silly stuff they meet in the world. Mostly it rolls Off their backs, leaving not a trace be- hi»2. When it comes to such essentiall human, innocent diversion as Amos 'n’ Andy, the children are able to judge fo~ lhemue}:ves. Let 8t‘lhcm ll!‘ona and they'l! gome home, wagging the pro) verbs "Behind them " 8o, shot T Y WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS The Hoover Haiti Commission, after a brief two weeks on the island, is re- puted to have made a quick clean-up of the political chaos, and is en route home to report complete success of their mission. ~ Luis Borno, Haiti presi- dential dictator, is eliminated, and in due course the American high commis- sloner, John H. Russell, is to be re- placed by an American minister, and fter the legislative elections are held a new treaty is to be negotiated. Com- missioner Russell has been carrying a white man’s burden since 1921, sur- rounded by knavish native political op- position, and sniped by American senti- mentalists. He labored under heavy odds. There has been a wide- spread. and wholly erroneous impression this country that Gen. Russell's status in Haitiis that of military despot. In fact he is not there in his capacity of Marine brigadier general. no uniform and com directl; neither the American Marine Brigade nor the Haitlan, Garde. He occupies the American legation, and combines with his prerogatives as civil administrator the duties and responsibilities of a dip- lomatic envoy. He is no more and no less the soldfer than was Gen. Leonard Wood as civil governor of the Philip- pines. * K ok ¥ Dr. Willilam Henry Welch of Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore, whose lifetime of work and achievement has earned him the sobriquet “Dean of American Medicine,” will celebrate his eightieth birthday on April 8. President Hoover will join In the international tribute to be paid to Dr. Weich on that occasion. The exercises will go on the air via the Columbia Broadcasting Sys- tem. The famed pathologist was born in Connecticut, graduated Irom Yale, took his medical courses at Columbia, and at Strassburg, Leipzig in Berlin, and more than 40 years ago came to the Johns Hopkins Hospital. The chronicle of his honors and degrees, so- cieties and medical text books comprises one of the longest paragraphs in Who's Who in _America. This compendium accords Dr. Welch more space than Herbert Hoover, whose biographical | summary is by no means brief, and ever 80 much more space than given to such notables as_J. P. Morgan, Young and Calvin Coolidge. ke Nearly every one hac his favorite flower or favorite color. Secretary of Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur has a favor- ite animal.” It is the goat. Discussing child welfare, Secretary Wilbur de- clared: “In our thought for children we have long adhered'to the herd spirit of following the leader. We have been sheep. As I grow older the animal I have come to admire most is the goat. Nobody ever saw a_goat with his tail between his legs He turns his front end to the world and fights. It is up to us, in studying this vital problem of the child, to change our tactics and imitate the goat.” Nk Harvard College received a cleag bill of *health at the hands of a prominent feminlne witness before the House ju- diciary committee last week. The lady's husband is a professor at Harvard, and to a question as to present-day drinking proclivities of Harvard students she re- plied, “Since 1920 I have never seen an intoxicated student, and my hus- band, who has close contacts with & Jarge proportion of the student body, assures me he has never detected t! odor of liquor upon the breath of a sin- gl® undergraduate.” The crowded com- mittee ronm rang with applause at this afirmation. The following day press dispatrhes from New Haven reported results of & prohibition poll of Yale students. Seventy-one cent admitted to liquor drinking, students said they drank frequently, and whisky was voted their favorite beverage, with gin time, the seniors Owen D. | i divided 134 drinkers as against 49 tee- | totalers, and there, as at Yale, | voted the favorite throat tickler. x kX % to reach Washington. The interviewer, sparring for a conversational opening, remarks, “I notice Senator Borah is | still performing.” “Yep, | replies Cool- {idge. “I just can’t understand him,” continues the reporter. “Well, I do," counters C. C. “Why, Borah goes so far as to criticize the Constitution,” adds the questioner. “He didn't write it,” was the shrewd Coolidge response. * ok ok ¥ | The following tale comes from be- hind the scenes in the studio of a lo- | cal broadcasting station: A Senator and & member of the House were before the microphone allotted 15 minutes apiece for a joint debate on farm |relief. The Senator, speaking first and y | true to form, badly overran his time and his opponent, the House member, found himself with only 5 minutes to |make his reply. The Representative was fighting mad. Throwing aside his | prepared manuscript. he lashed into a smashing impromptu defense at a | raphi-fire pace, accompanying his tor- rent of words with a wealth of force- ful gestures, and, when he finished and the circuit was cut off, he stepped back from the microphone and involuntarily bowed low in acknowledgment of the imaginary applause of his invisible au- | dience. % e The following fashion note is bulle- tined by the Department of Agricultur Overcoats of red, orange, bright blue and bright green recommended for is(’hool children. “Motorists often fail to see children wearing coats of tan, gray, brown and black, because these colors blend with the background. Bright-colored coats will often catch | the motorist'’s eye in time to prevent | accidents.” “Copy 1930.) e |Center Market Should . Be at Once Replaced To the Editor of The Star: All of the people of Washington and | the surrounding country will mourn the loss of the old Center Market more thah any other of the old lendmarks that are passing away to make room for the new Washington. To the oldest inhabitants it will be like laying away a lifetime friend. We hope, therefore, to soon see a new and better market take its place—that fs, a market better suited to the present and future needs of our great Capital City, not the largest market in the world, but the most attractive, practi- cal and up-to-date, one of the sights for th- visitor to the city. To be practic: it must be centrally located, where ali the lines of transportation to‘and from B !: bde it of ones who do most of the marketing. No consideration should be given in selecting a site for the Center Market to the schemes of rail ompan! real estate operators, o © e The ‘:;delt mh‘nhlhn‘a have seen 2Xpensive markets erected i e L PR cmxlr]enl:nlc: of )oeltlo;'" e of lese ventu: eaflure and Tows 0 A1 whe nvecien 1o them. We have in Squares Nos. 422 and 398 northwest a si‘e that fills all the essential needs for a successful market, more central than can be found in any mfi?‘{m‘: the‘clltl. where all the and all of i the bus lines Slod? M S0 user, whether talking or writing, is| | hindrance to & man, either writing or | up he has been listening to Amos 'n’ Andy | uj { rye was | School children in the Northern told - to Here is the latest Coolidge anecdote mfi light-green foll nishment? How 8l nefic! administered for the lator of the law and for society itself? These fundamental questions should be answered in & broad and compre- hensive way, dealing with the economic conditions as they exist, which should Include the monstrous iniquities of the awful catastrophe, the World War; its aftermath, mass production, the enor- mous waste and destruction of property during the war, the unemployment problems, prohibition enforcement, or the lack of it, and the consequences. This should furnish some of the background for the legislative work that must be undertaken to alleviate the awful tax burdens that are constantly increasing and the still of the contamination and pollution of society. May I call attention to our penal institutions under existing condi- tions and the menacing consequences that necessarily result, which, I think, is due to the lack of proper study by those In authority? e proper sta- tistics, in many ways, are not available, but for this brief letter we may approxi- mate them for the purposes of illus- tration. Of the number that are sent to our Federal prisons and penal institutions— and this may be true of the States— there are about 30 per cent, that are by training, business and habits criminals. ‘Whether frem choice or necessity is the important question here. There about 40 per cent that are moront weaklings, and are the victims of stronger or master minds and essen- tially different from the first class. Then there are 30 per cent that are sent to n that have been framed by usy, emnity and malice, comme! lly or politically, and are really not criminals at all in the legal or_moral sense. . Let us see what happens when they go_to or penal institution: They are all herded together, and the rules and regulations are made for the n{;‘c Io' percleent, the 'ons.lx:_’fo other two classes, aggrega! per cent, are brought to the lowest level. Like a chain, the strength is the weak- est link: a battleship fleet, the speed is that of the slowest vessel. is, of course, is very bad, but by no means the worst ‘feature. The first 30 per cent become the ' | teachers and instructors of the others, by reason of their superior intelligence and a large number emerge from prison much more proficient in crime than when they entered, instilled with hatred to the Government and society, with out any fitness for life's struggles; with a cheap suit, transportation home, four or five dollars, with the mark of “Cain” n them, to meet the sneers and jeers d1]0!» or & chance for they most Ikely do under such circumstances?* What, in fact, would you do? ‘When more than two hundred thou- of soclety, with no one. And what wi that A & A are not teaching the |sand are annually poured into society.! , but adding to the | what is boun to be the result? Wil not this process contaminate societv ln'fl,lncruse crime at an enormour rate? Is this not an important subject for the erime commission? L. H. KEENAN. oo Wild Rose Not Suitable As National Flower To the Editor of The Star: The Star of March 4 contained ex- 8:?!- from a number of papers from ferent. sections of the United States the recent contest for the the wild rose for the u':onll 1 \rose did not ignal wild rose, but left it community to feel thai was the cholce for the national flower. States natipnal flower fragile, pink rose , which nothing The paint their would paint a lovel 1d be lovelier or more artistic. children in the Southern States would | paint a pure white, waxy rose, very ellow center, with long, dark-green leaves and a vigorous climber, which is equally lovely as the pink species, but not the same, almost as much dif- ference between them as though they were -different flowers, certainly not a universal flower and not an emblem that could be used by the school chil- ! dren. The dogwood and golden rod are much more distinctive and grow in all sections of the United States. But there is another plant, the straw- verry, which might be called a flower, for its dainty white blossom is as lovely as a flower; it grows all over the United States, even Alaska, from Maine to Key West, from the Fdstern Shore of Mary- land to the ific Coast; it is a native wild plant. It grew in profusion in the eurly days before the country was set- tled and cleared. The Jamestown set- tlers and the Pilgrim Forefathers, the Clark - Merriwether ~ Expedition, all doubtless feasted on the delicious wild strawberry. It could be used very artis- toally, & blossom, leaf and berry would make an attiactive emblem, to say nothing of the great industry it repre- sents. and it is distinctly an Ameri- can plant, The American Nature Association has aroused much interest in wild flowers and much good will come of the contest, especially in the protection of wild flow ers and plants along the roadsides but I do not think that a bill should be passed by Congress making the rose the national flower, for it does not rep- resent a truly national flower. C. IE V. GREEN. —_—_— his great engineer, L'Enfant, must have planned it ‘n laying out the city. - These Squares contain, with Eighth street be- tween and the alleys in them, 149,600 square feet of ground. The assessed value of the property in them is only $349,100. O street. P street, Seventh and Eighth streets surrounding them are all classed as business streets and could not be injured in any way by locating the Center Market ther On the contrary, the whole section would be greatly benefited, and the city as well, as it would clean up this old neglected part of. the city. To locate a market for the people to be convenient to freight or express ter- minals would be the height of folly, as tn place it near to one terminal would leave it far from the others. The greatest cost of transporting from these terminals is the loading into trucks and unload Whether it is to be hauled 5 or 10 blocks is hardly a matter to be considered. Anyway, {reight is largely brought in from the country and nearby cities by trucks and delivered direct to its desti- nation, and this will be done more and more in the future. It will be only a all parts of the city are most conveni few years when fresh garden truck and ‘The housewives are the ones who he-% fruit’ Will "come. front a1l far-distant :orsidered. They are the | points by umpl-ned roofs of all up: arkets. The convenience to *“ie people to lines of travel to and from a market should O The most successful markets in flu graph city now are the little ol¢ Riggs Marki on P street between Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets northwest, and the O Street Market on Squ-.re 432 of the site ln‘ question. th y"‘:e m]:u they e A. M. PROCTOR. PForest Glen, Md "Ware Vare's Wa From the Omaha World-Herald. Secretary Davis may acce] of but iet him beware and $765,000 in his campalgn. Bureau, " | Washington, D. C. reater danger |y e | the first to send out an appeal for the and landed on the | ge: te mi lc J. Haskin, director, Q. Why are the advertisements of motion pictures which are thrown on the screen called trailers?—M. G. A. It is because the pictures so shown are to follow the current of- fering. © | Q. Can a man beat a horse in & bona fide race?—C. W. D. A. Several men have beaten horses in 100-yard dashes from standing starts. No man has ever beaten a horse in a longer race. Q. What city in the United States i has l:‘.h:’ . Anut broadcasting stations?— A Chicago has the largest number, having 24. it Q. Which State in the.South first decorated graves on a Memorial day? -J. T. G. A. The editor of the Confederate Veteran says that the question as to which State was the first to decorate raves of Confederate soldiers has never n settled definitely, as both id Mississippi claim priority. How- ever, while Georgia's first decoration of Confederate graves dates from April, 1866, and Mississippi claims to have decorated the year before, Georgia was general observance of a Memorial day throughout the South. It is not known | Just when each of the other Southern States first began to decorate graves, but the custom became almost univer- sal in the South from the appeal sent out by Georgia. Q. Can_ peanuts be salted before Toas B. T. A. uts may be salted in the shell by soaking in & 10 per cent salt solution before roasting. Q. A'-hcn;. gr Minerva as she was called? A. The celebrated statue of Athena which was in the Parthenon is no longer extant. A statuette not quite 3% feet high, evidently a copy of this great statue, was found in Athens in 1880. So far as we know, it remains in the Q. Why isn't the life of Christ taught in the Sunday schools?—N. W. A. In many Sunday schools the life of Christ is taught. | Q. When were intoxicating drinks first made?—E. C. F. | A. Intoxicating drinks made from: honey, barley and grapes were known | at least 1,000 years B. C., and they may g‘(‘:‘ been known 5,000 or 10,000 years ‘What is Bombay duck?—A. G. H. A. It is a small dried fish canned in Bombay, India. ‘What became of the statue of | .National Museum, in the Greek capital. | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. be distinguished other.” “Each other” applies to two only; “one another” to more than two. Q. Are there two qualities of sterling silver in Denmark, one bearing the im- print of two castles and one bearing one castle>—PF. H. ° A. The Danish legation says that the mark or imprint on sterfing snver in Denmark is three towers; on the alloy, or plated silver, two towers, and if one tower is used it is stamped on & cheaper grade of nickel-plated ware. Q. Please name the four ages of fur- niture in England.—P. 8. R. A. Percy MacQuoid says they are the age of oak. the age of walnut, the age of mahogany, the age of satinwood. Q. How much are the actors paid who take part in the Oberammergau “Passion Play"?—B. P, A. There are no definite amounts paid to the actors who take part in the “Passion Play” at Oberammergau, Ger- many. Some vears ugo theré was $100,- 000 to distribute among the villagers after’ the season closed. Of this sum the principal players received $375 each for 47 performances, which lasted from the middle of May to the end of September. In addition to playing, thére had been months spent in rehearsal and a whole year of preparation. Q. What kinds of marks do gypsies use to guide other gypsies along the way?—C. W, G. A. Gypsies use patterans as signs along the highway to indicate to gvp- sies who follow what route has been chosen and the conditions along the way. Patterans sometimes take the form of twisted twigs or fallen leaves. Q. How many typewriters are there in use?—W. R. T. 3 A. An unofficial estimate places the number of American-made writers in the United States and coun- tries at approximately 7,000,000. Q. What would it cost fo eliminate grade crossings at rallroads?—L. A. A croum‘n II:;' c] umber, 1.9° $281,810,000. Class B, number, 2,548; cost of elimination, $166,760,000. Class C., number, 2984; cost of elimination, $155,325,000. Q. Was the red flag an gmblem of was military for active . Under what acts were Chinese and J;rnnue excluded from coming to the United States to live?—L. 8. A. The xclude sion act of 1882. ‘gen! agreement” of 1907 excluded the Japa- immigration into the :J;‘tn?i kg Japanese are the pro- 'ml.fl Mrihkhllhnlhlfll‘lw ible to become American citisens are not ad- mitted except under existing treaty stip- ulations. faft’s mExample of Good Will Leaves Enduring Impmsion Though tribute of ample propar'.h1 3 paid to Willlam Howard Taft's intel lectual attainments, it is his bigness of | heart that bids fair to linger longest in the memory of his fellov* cauntr{men. ‘The Cincinnati Times-Star, publish in the city which was Mr. Taft's home all of the twenty-odd years is tion from college and his departure for the Philip) " | It gave a picture of the character of the man. He had a fine, clear mind, and nature had given him a disposition and physical strength which made him a tremendous worker. But the “Taft chuckle’ did not belie the roportion or his warmth of human kindliness. So also the Fort Worth -Tele- gram—"Mr, Taft had the priceless gift of a personality which distilled friend- ship from all the relationships and con- tacts of life.” The nd Oregon J . rson: . breadth is gentle but dignified attitude, with his efforts for a warless world, added _lg.ue- 1y to his personal popularity.” is the thought, too, of the Albany Eve ning News: “We shall remember his smile, his spontaneous chuckle, that wave of his hand that told so e: sively his good will toward all mankind, his good fellowship and democracy, his humanness, his patriotism that was above all politics, his breadth and depth f heart. Taft was a great and good man. * ok ok ok The St. Louis Times describes him as personally “one of the moct winsome of men. None knew him but to love him; none name nim but to praise.” His sense of humor was one of his outstanding characteristics. “Laughter | was his ready resource against the as- | perities of a world addicted to wry | thinking and_perverse actions,” says | the Chicago Daily News, as it wonders if any other public man ‘el throughout a long life in serious tasks of importance to his fellow countrymen has left such memories of genial good fellowship in his relations with all men.” The Akron Beacon Journal sees as “one of the evidences of his great- ness” the fact that “disappointment did not sour him,” and it recalls that “he laughed off a defeat for the presi- dency in 1912, with the jest that he was glld that he had carried at least two tate: As to his service on the bench, the San Francisco Chronicle considers it was “a happy development for both the public and the man that the stormy chapter of his presidency did not end his career. After an interval in which his natural talents were not altogeiher | wasted, he was called to second high office as Chief Justice. Here, remote from partisan conflicts, for nearly nine years he spent what was probably the | happlest period of his life,” estimates the Chronicle, as it pictures him, “steeped in the traditions the law, and adds that he was just and learned judge and rounded out his ca- reer in the nn:mpng‘n he most loved.” . CH B ‘The Tulsa Daily World considers that ‘the Supreme OCourt Mr. Taft's true ambition,” and thinks “he was privileged above any other American in being Chief Executive and Chief Justice and these great services were in his mature and active period.” Portla: % “to millions of | gerved Some Inequities of The Federal Service To {he Bditor of The Star: The Government w are fortu- nate and, it is believed, appreciative be- cause they are allowed a certain sum of money each month after retirement from active service. The greatest cause of dissatisfaction, and é\mlydlo, 1;. u-'n:. is 'lutu;h:u haj n pened and what bappeni now: A number of employes who rxni drew a large wi have been and being separated thelr regular m and allowed an inadequate sum in thereof, and most of them are un to secure remunerative employment a where to eke out their monthly check. ‘The relief is needed right now at that t. An amendment (which “M'AT ve worked as many as 16 hours out of 24 without extra com; tion. Everybody has heard tale before, but it is interpolated here to bring ouf what some of the clerks who are D retired today were up against in Lb% halcyon days now past The Mld"ol & Government bureau in | this city was asked one day how many clerks worked under him and he repliec about half of the total number that draw pay.. There was a chief of a division who was noted for securin more for the under istration paper further describes him as “always un- pretentious, always scholarly, nuine, always % il f25e £-68 A R géggi 85 f!‘ H -4 EH i i i