Evening Star Newspaper, April 5, 1930, Page 6

A6 THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 1930. i o, I S —— - AL LT AR O T = THIS AND THAT THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY.. THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor W the City. . The Eromine Star... 45c rer month (hen 4 Sundaye) - 60c per month Rate by Carrier Within and Surni 5 . Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland ll!]ll v":‘o"s' s:“y and Sunday. Iy Oy junday only All Other States and Canada. 1yr.. $12.00; 1 mi Iro $8.00° 1mo.. ¥ $5.00; 1mo., tly only . . unday only Member of the Associated Press. 'The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the for 1l news dis- it cred- ted in this paper and also the loral news Dublished herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. And Now for the Senate. Fight for and on the Cramton bill moves now to the Senate and to those who have enjoyed the preliminary skirmishes involving internecine strife within the Army it may be said, “You ain't seen nothin’ yet!” For the Cramton bill, actually a park purchase bill, has very naturally be- come a measure that determines the Federal Government's policy toward power development of the Potomac. Power development projects always provide room for plenty of discussion in the Senute, and there have been precedents enough to warrant assur- ance that mention of power develop- ment of the Potomac will at least move Senator Norris and others to many words. There need be no great fear that the merits of the Cramton bill will suffer through prolonged discussion in the Senate. The one danger is that the power controversy may so overshadow the park project that the bill itself may be too long delayed. It is well- nigh inconceivable to believe that the Senate will emasculate the Cramton bill to the extent of handing over the Great Falls of the Potomac to the power interests. Buf if the Senate merely delays passage of the Cramton bill at this session, the ends of the power interests will have been served. It is well to point out the issue once more. This issue is whether the people are to acquire the shores of the river and develop them as a park, thus blocking any power development until the time that Congress believes neces- sity demands this development, or ‘whether the river and its shores are to be turned over now to private power interests, who will develop power first and fit a park in afterward. The issue is not between park and power development of the Potomac. The issue is not whether the taxpayers will spend a few millions on a park and lose & hundred million dollars more through loss of potential power. The complaint of the power interests seeking the permit for development of | the river is that the Cramton bill shuts off this great natural resource, capable of returning millions in hard cash, mere- Iy for the purpose of providing a fit place for the fauna and the flora to “hobneb” together as they have done for the last hundreds of thousands of years. They have sought diligently to rest the matter on a choice between economics aad esthetics, between tangible and practical returns and between intangible and spir- itual returns. But the Cramton bill does not destroy the possibility of proper power develop- ment of the river. It does nct waste a spade of earth or a drop of water that later may be turned to account. It merely places this natural resource in the hands of those to whom it properly belongs—the people, for them to enjoy and to keep as long as they can afford to keep it as it is. If by chance the issue should change and the Senate should feel compeiled to settle the question of immediate pow- er development of the Potomac, that will, of course, involve the equally im- portant decision as to whether the .. river is to be developed for power by private interests or by the Government. ‘The present Congress is not ready to decide that question. The best thing :for the present Congress to do is to .. pass the Cramton bill, acquire the land, g0 forward with the relatively inex- pensive park development projected and permit the years and the wisdom they bring to settle the question of power and who will own it. ————— Indications that aviation will become .. @ social pastime promise a few funerals to go along with the weddings and i bridge parties. ———— The Wonders of Telephony. Great as have been the advances and improvements in' telephony during the past twenty or twenty-five years, it re- mains in practical application on the basis of transmission of current and , communication by wire. The voice has been carried by radio over great dis- - tances, but for direct person-to-person communication, confidential and pri- “vate, the “wireless” method is inappli- .cable. Hence it is that when an acci- dent occurs such as that in New York Thursday, when ten thousand tele- phones were put out of commission by . the blasting and burning of cables in . conduits ruptured by a gas explosion, '~ the system is crippled. Immediate. re- - pairs may be made to effect trunk i~ connections, but the work of hooking % up all individual lines after a mishap ~of such magnitude requires many & hours, even days, to accomplish. It is = estimated that fully a week will ‘be needed in New York to complete the '~task of identifying and resecting the A=wires. ‘Wireless telephony is the dream of the inventors and of the officials of _$he corporations conducting this most gmportant line of public utility. ‘will t ever come? Will it ever be possible . to talk directly to a person at a dis- .. tance in the same city, or in another T city, or in another country, without . wires and with perfect assurance of = secrecy and security? To answer that ;;quuunn requires the gift of prophecy, " and however great the faithdsnspired b ..April 5, 1930 during these past few decades, prophecy remains unsafe and uncertain. ‘Washington is just about to go over to the dial system of telephony. The preliminaries of instruction are in progress and soon exchanges will be rigged for daily service on the basis of an almost completely mechanical con- nection, In the course of & year or so the entire District service will be by the dial method. This will be a distinct ad- vance. In other cities dialing has been introduced effectively and with little difficulty in the transition. Washington has been deliberately held back from this change in order that the system might be brought to its highest state of v | perfection before introduction here. From the dial service to the wireless mode of selective telephony may be only & short move. Then, indeed, if that is effected, will the “phone” be a well-nigh perfect facility. Short of fires and blasts wrecking the central stations, the ganglia of the system, there will be no risk of derangement or disablement. Storms will not break connections by sweeping down poles and lines. Quakes incident to nature'’s violence or to man's carelessness will not break the contacts. So # is that, great as have been the wonders of advance in this marvelous art, there remains another, even more wonderful, yet to come. R The Five-Power Disagreement. The five-power jig at London seems at last definitely to be up. The Amer- iran delegation has booked a home- bcand passage on the Leviathan for April 22. A couple of weeks more of formalities, and then a grand project, which was launched amid so much promise and hope, will take its place in history alongside other unrealized international schemes for the better- ment of an unregenerate world. The Naval Conference of 1930, before it ad- journs sine die, will plant a signpost emblazoned with the legend that the millennium is farther on. It is the impossibility of France to obtain “security guarantees” from the other naval powers which blocks the way to a quintuple limitation treaty. Secondarily, though, in fact, indissolu- bly linked with that primary cause, it is the inability of France and Italy to reconcile their “parity” views that has sent the conference to the rocks as far as any five-sided pact is concerned. But out of the wreckage of its major aspirations the conference has salvaged a three-power treaty including Great Britain, the United States and Japan. ‘Thus London cannot be put down as & total failure. It is merely an incom- plete success. As a matter of fact, such an outcome, though it falls short of the original goal, is an achievement of the first magnitude. It means that the three foremost sea powers, representing in the aggregate sixty per cent of the world's naval strength, have agreed among themselves to arrest costly and provoca- tive competition in shipbuilding. It means that the British, American and Japanese peoples are determined to tread the path, laborious and long though it be, that leads toward peace and away from war. It means that for the next five years at least the premier fleets of the world will be stabilized on known and commonly accepted conditions, each of them secure in the conviction that the requirements of national defensive, from their respective standpoints, have been carefuliy safeguarded. ‘The people of the United States must be prepared to discover that we alone, practically, will be the only one of the tripartite treaty powers who will | have to build extensively under it, while the others stand relatively still. The reason for that is clear. It is due to the fact that America has not ex- panded its fleet, especially in respect of modern cruisers, to any appreciable extent since the Washington confer- ence of 1922. In that same interval the British and Japanese navies, in exercise of their full rights, have gone ahead in the construction of vessels left unlimited at Washington. Uncle Sam, having determined upon parity with Britain and a corresponding su- periority over Japan in auxiliary ecraft, must now spend money to catch up with the lead which our eight years of naval self-denial gave to the British and Japanese fleets. Substantial expenditure will be re- quired to accomplish this. But the three-power treaty will contain, as one of its outstanding features, a provision for postponement of battleship replace- ment between now and 1936. That ar- rangement will take from the backs of British, American and Japanese tax- payers the burdens of many hundreds of millions of dollars of otherwise ines- capable expenditure. In our own case, the resultant saving will go far toward balancing the inevitable cost of leveling up with our treaty associates in classes of ships in which they now seriously outnumber us. ————————— There is satisfaction in surveying a purpose successfully carried out. Ever since Will Hays first announced his intentions for & movie clean-up the movies have, financially speaking, been cleaning up every year. e Homicide mysteries have been so fre- quent in genuine police news that they no longer have to be invented for newsstand circulation. ————————— A Small Grain of Comfort. A grain of comfort may be extracted from a statement just issued from the Internal Revenue Bureau regarding the manufacture and sale of pistols in the United States. It is announced that there was an actual decrease in this traffic during the seven months end- ing January 31 last. While the collec- tions on this score during the period were actually greater than during the corresponding period of 1928-9, back taxes amounting to $180,000 were in- cluded, and the current business was $1,792 less—perhaps accounting for a thousand fewer “guns” put into cir- culation. But this grain of comfort for those who regard the pistol as an evil, to be tolerated if at all only for the sake of its rarely necessitous use in the main- tenance of law and order—if it indeed is of any use in that interest—is a very small grain indeed. There has been no evident diminution in pistol use during the seven months of this comparative period. Just about as many footpads have shown and used guns, and burglars have been thus armed, and private “executioners have | have shuffied off the mortal coil by this route. It may be that gangsters and gun- men, engaged in one of the country’s most, lively and prosperous industries— that of racketeering—have found the pistol & comparatively ineffective weap- on, adopting in its stead the portable machine gun, which sprays death al- most inescapably. Or perhaps, with a slight tightening of the laws against pistol purchasing and carrying—a very slight tightening, indeed, with none at all in the District of Columbia—the pis- tol users have taken to the use of boot- leg weapons, imported from abroad, usually by smuggling. Not until there is enacted in every State and in Congress to cover the Fed- eral areas, including the District of Columbia, & law which forbids under penalty the sale of guns of this char- acter save to persons who have been granted permits to buy them, after the establishment before a judicial author- ity of a legitimate need, will there be any material reduction in the traffic in deadly weapons and in the deaths in- cident to their possession and use. Not until the vepdor of the weapon is put upon risk of heavy fine or imprisonment for selling to unauthorized persons will this-murderous trade be lessened. And when such & law is passed and enforced, the Internal Revenue figures will show a real and a significant reduction in the trafiic. N Airplane Overshoes. One of the chief hazards of Winter flying will be removed if further tests confirm the successful operation of & new type of “overshoe” for the wing edges of airplanes to break up the formation of ice. Tests have already been made with the device and its sponsors are optimistic that the funda- mentals at least of a method to remove the ice danger have been discovered. The overshoes lace over the forward edge of the wing and consist of a thin layer of vulcanized rubber which continually exudes a colorless oil. Un- der the overshoe ‘s a small hose which with & slight pulsation of air breaks the ice as it forms on the wing edge. A pilot when he enters the ice region will have but to open a valve and the tubes will automatically inflate and deflate as fast as ice is formed. ‘The entire aviation world is anx- jously awaiting such a device. Ice is one of thc most deadly enemies of air- men. Not only does it add weight to the plane when it forms, but it changes . the delicate curvature of the wings to such an extent that it may fall to earth like a plummet, absolutely out of the control of the pilot. On his epochal flight to Paris Lindbergh was faced with this peril, but succeeded in avoid- ing it by diving close to the surface of the ocean. It is exceedingly probable that some of the lll-fated Atlantic fiyers met their deaths because ice put their planes out of control. Every effort has been made to over- come this obstacle, but until the tests were announced of the success of the overshoes nothing has been accom- plished. Wings have been chemically treated and other ingenious methods attempted, but the bugbear still re- mained. It is obvious that a great stride forward has been made if the overshoes live up to expectations. —_————e———— A specially designed alcohol spray is suggested as a means of Kkeeping members of Parliament from dozing. If it can bring prohibition into action as a political issue, nobody will get any sleep. —te. Party divisions have developed a pos- sibility that a number of political band wagons are likely to appear as bar- gains in the used car list. e Up to the present time censorship has usually proved an unintentional means of profitable publicity. —o—s SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Melodic Delirium. I sometimes pause to wonder why My fancy is not caught By poems with a purpose high, And music nobly wrought— But of the tariff still I hear ‘With nothing new to learn. To soothe a dissipated ear Once more to jazz I turn! At serious times my brain will balk, The classics make no hit When there’s so much delirious talk ‘The music ought to fit. A fuddlement may bring relief When fates unkind befall grief, Sor still more jazz I call. Lobbyists All. “Several lobbyists desire to see you,” sald the confidential man. “Select two,” replied Senator Sor- ghum, “on opposite sides of the propo- sition. I'll listen while they argue it out and possibly Il try to referee a little.” Jud Tunkins says everybody ought to feel at liberty to speak his mind, no matterswhether he has any or not. Burning Oil Well, Again the oil in glory flows In Oklahoma, far away. A million-dollar bonfire shows With greater splendor every day. Strict Economy. “That waiter spilled salad dressing on my clothes!” “I will discharge him at once,” sald the restaurant manager. “He has been cautioned several times not to waste the salad dressing “It is indeed & good man,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “who is so living as truly to deserve the epitaph sure to be written by generous friends’” | be be! The Flying Girl. The aviating girl just now we see. To wear the proper togs with grace she’ll try. The costume makes it clear that there will be No beauty contests up in yonder sky. “Everybody makes & few mistakes,” said Uncle Eben, “but if you fools around race tracks, you're goin’ to keep makin’ a lot of ‘em all de time.” Hardly That. | Where some in drink might drown their | I BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. ‘The question is, not whether women lre7the best letter writers, but why they are ‘There can be little doubt that they are, despite the voluminous collections of male-written epistles. Many of the latter get into libraries because of political or other prominence of the writers, who took part in great affairs, and so made their letters of unusual importance. But for sheer interest-compelling quality, lve us letters written by women, and especially those dealing with the flat, everyday affairs of ordi- nary life, A man demands a battle for a sub- ject, before he can do his best, but al- most any woman can sit down and turn out a compelling narrative about how Johnny stubbed his toe yesterday, but it is all right today. One has to be able to write well to make something out of such homely material. 5 * ok % ox Perhaps women achieve supreme in- terest in their letters because they are interested themselves to begin with, and something of this elusive but necessary quality is thereby passed on to the reader. ‘We can recall once opening a lib' ry | book and finding therein a letter which had been tucked in there by a puior reader and forgotten. There was no telling what tiny event had occasioned the forgetting of so personal a missive. Had she smelled beans burning on the stove? Hastily grabbing for a book- mark, she took up the first thing that came to hand, and slipped it between the pages. ‘There the letter remained until we found it. There being no address or name of any kind on the sheets, we felt able to read the pages without undue hesitancy. Yet there was a certain amount of reluctance in our fingers, as we recall. It was & highly personal letter, of a nature which made the chance reader feel it was strictly none of his business. Yet it was set forth with such modesty and kindliness of phrasing that some- how these qualities suffused the words. One closed the sheets almost with reverence, and placed them carefully in the fire, so that this secret between the three of us might remain a secret forever. ‘This unknown woman pos- sessed the ability of her tribe, how to write en interesting letter. SaE " Recently we had the privilege of read- ing another letter written by a woman, an owner of St. Bernard kennels in the Midwest. Almost were we per- suaded to purchase a puppy, after read- ing the lady’s letter. A man would have answered our friend's query something as follows: “Dear Sir: Yours of the 7th instant received, and will say that we have male puppies at $50 and females at $25 and $15.. Will be pleased to hear from you. Yours truly, etc.” But the mistress of the kennels took her pen and ink in hand, and sat down to a three-page informal, chatty letter about St. Bernards in general and the worth of the female puppies in_particular. We fell to wondering afterward just why this letter was so good & letter. An’ analysis might have shown it to be indifferent in composition, and per- haps lacking & bit in grammatical construction, But it was a good letter, and the question remained, Why? * X ok ‘There are at least seven qualities which .the good letter possesses. They are, as we see them: 1. Simplicity. . Honesty. . Detailed information. 2 3 4. Informality. 5. Kindness of character. 6. Interest in the reader. 7. Lack of fear and suspicion. No doubt these are the qualities of | any good letter, but they seem peculiar- ly those'of the woman's letter, p;Iumen, by reason of their character and call- ing, have a simplicity of thought proc- esses unknown to most men. We use simplicity as an antonym for com- plexity merely. They think directly and to the point, despite their legendary reputation for subtlety. ‘This quality stands out in their let- ters, especially in those which detail with what men would be tempted to call unimportant affairs. It is realized clearly by women that these unimpor- tant matters are really quite important, since they constitute so large a part lel\;en of the most vigorous or exciting e. A woman, when writing a letter, is not afraid to include the most trivial items. S8he feels sure that if they are of some interest to her who writes they will be of equal or almost equal in- terest to him or her who reads. Honesty is part and parcel of the foregoing. And here we might well bring in our seventh good quality, lack of fear and suspicion. Despite that ad- verse reputation, women commonly are more honest in expression than men. In their letter writing, in particular, they are more apt to say right out what ;,xl:ey think. And this makes for reader t. terest, Unlike men, who almost always have something up their sleeve, women write straight from the shoulder without fear- ing that they may be misunderstood. Nor do they infuse their words with an i1l hidden suspicion. A heart is a heart with them, and they accept it as such. ok Kk In giving detailed information, women are masters. Nothing too small for them to include, with the result that their letters take on some aspects of carefully written work of fiction which achieves results by careful handling of small matters. The masculine letter writer is too prone to be resentful of de- tails. He longs for grand strategy, and wants to play the kings and queens all the time, whereas the feminine writer knows that good pawn play is the es- sence of the game. Informality is =& quality readily secured by those who are willing to waste a few words. AMen, under the dominion of business, stress the saved word, but women care little whether the telegram goes in 10 words or 20, and they are right. No woman ever in- vented the curt, concise, complete letter which amounts to plain discourtesy, in effect. It took some self-sufficient, con- ceited man to evolve that masterpiece. * koK X We take it as an axiom that women. in the mass, are kinder than men, and by reason of their tenderness and lack of inferiority complex in the handling of this trait are able to more readily infuse it in letters. Certainly the woman who wrote about the St. Bernard pup- pies made the reader feel that he ought to love them, too, simply because she did. And then there is the large matter of interest in the reader. Men are inclined to write because they must, but women because they like to. If a man had written the St. Bernard letter, he would have wanted to get it over as quickly as possible because he had no real in- terest in the person to whom he was writing. ‘The reader of the dog letter got the idea quite naturally that the woman kennel owner really saw him as one interested in dogs and as one who would take good care of one of her charges. She was interested in him because he was interested in her and her doj }0\'& you because you love the things I ove."” Yes, these are the qualities of all good letters, whomever written by, in what- ever age, whether with pen and ink, pencil or typewriter, on good or poor paper, but & reader may feel more sure of finding them in a letter written by a woman, we believe. Americans feel that there is a chal- lenge in the speed record set by the new German liner, Europa, which made the crossing of the Atlantic against storm handicaps in 4 days, 17 hours and several minutes. Full credit is given to the Germans who produced both the Bremen and the Europa, successive | record breakers, but there are many | predictions of international rivalry, in which this country will have part. Describing the German experts as| “wizards in_building ships and zep- ytllns." the Savannah Press gives credit or the ploneering spirit that governed the style of construction. The Salt Lake Deseret News points to the “enormous sums of money lavished” on the “Queen of the Sea,” with the conclu- sion that “national pride induces bis expenditures” to achieve “the honor of possessing_the best,” and the Scranton Times holds that the Europa “shows what has been done by Germany in the way of postwar industry.” The Charlotte News feels that “the very fact that the Bremen's record was outdone at all is substantial evidence that the Germans have no notion of surrendering the 8 eg laurels on the waves to anybody el * % ¥ % “A sound performance in shipbuild- g, says the Newark Evening News, hat cannot be explained'in any way except that postwar Germany is setting the pace in the maritime world.” The News also explains that the new mark “has been set by a 48,000-ton boat sHd- ing over the waves instead of plowing through them, a principle of construc- tion apparently triumphant”; that “heretofore shipping men have believed the most effective size for North Atlantic ships to be about 25,000 tons. The Germans have a right to their pride,” agrees that paper. The liner “now holds the trans- atlantic blue ribbon,” states the Cin- cinnati Times-Star, “simply because her builders made use of the improvements introduced by naval engineers and architects. The powerful engines of the Europa, her cruiser stern, and that bulbous bow which presses the water down rather than thrusts it aside, are all adaptations from battle cruisers.” Referring to American plans, that paper declares: “The United States is now responsible for most of the passenger traffic on the seas, and it is high time that we made an effort to bring back the speed records once owned by the Yankee clippers.” “Yankee skill is directly challenged,” in the opinion of the Dallas Journ “and it is openly threatened that it will outdo the Germans by building a super- liner that can make the crossing in four days. The world would profit from ship- building competition of this sort. Ii the interest of the nations could be centered upon the construction of mer-/| chant vessels and turned entirely away from e.fl;gh'&m‘ vessels the world would L™ * ok k% ‘The feat is viewed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as one which atten- tion again “to the attack on this coveted of the seagoing nations,” and that paper remarks in reviewing the events: “Between the Deutschland, which held the record in 1900 with 8 days, 7 hours and 38 minutes, and the Europa there is no great apparent dif- ference, but every hour shorn from the mndnrdummulhehthe l:::n‘l l:nnne rlhf represen! mu enginee: progress and the fulfiliment of munn& aspirations. When the Bremen on her maiden trip last July beat the Maure- tania’s time by more than eight hours the reduction was regarded as sensa- tional. The recent developments are From the Charleston, W. Va, Daily Mail. trium) for the German shipbuilders 1t is reported that Trotsky will leave | and world “~ill accept them as such. Turkey for bia pealth, 3t i o o i Bues to vommain B Wagiatirbed.pos: 3 er, it r session of the laurels, The British are "’wmmmhmunbm‘nm employed these wespons, and sulcidss to Russia {0 Tesover it. 1 Triumph of Cerman Liners Challenge to U. S. Shipping now building a ship designed especially to beat the Germans. The United States will soon_construct two superliners to ‘rank with or surpass any ships afloat, building or designed.’” X e “It was a challenge from Germany,” according to the Jersey City Journal, “that the proud Europa carried when she drove her nose through the mists of the harbor, but it was the kind of challenge that America likes. It was | the challenge of skill from the other side of the Atlantic, saying, ‘This is what we can do—match it if you can. ‘The Allentown Morning Call justifies interest in “clipping the record by & few minutes every once in a while” with the statement that “the horse that is likely to break a record almost any day is the interesting horse on the race track.” The Asheville Times believes that “it should soon be possible to cioss the Atlantic, in a sort of floating hotel, in four days.” “The Europa established a record in spite of unfavorable weather condi- tions,” observes the Dayton Daily News, adding that “with the tempestuous At- lantic giving better co-operation, it will not be surprising to see the Europa improve her own record.” The SEt. Louis Globe-Democrat refers to speed records at sea with the comment on notable performances in the past. “Speed on the ocean ordinarily increases at a slow rate. The race course on which the swift wonders of former years measured their progress was be- tween Queenstown and New York, 2,780 miles, and gains were oftener recorded in minutes than in hours. The Alaska was the first to reduce the time slightly below seven days, back in 1882, and the Majestic, in 1891, the first to reduce it somewhat below six days. The Lusi- tania brought it below five days in 1908. which the Mauretania bettered by four hours in 1810. The recent records are measured from the vicinity of Cher- bourg in the Channel to New York, 3,163 miles, which the Leviathan made in 5 days 6 hours 21 minutes, or an average of 24.57 miles an hour, while the Bremen's average for the entire distance was 27.85 miles an hour and the Europa’s a few seconds greater. Conditions on the return voyages to the east are more favorable and the iow record even less.” S The Indian Situation. From the Toronto, Canada, Daily Star. ‘When the trouble in Ireland was at its worst a few years ago and the Black and Tans were enforcing authority with gun and bayonet and making an un- satisfactory job of it, one of the wisest ¢ | Irishmen remarked that no people can be governed against their will once they red to die in offering resist- ance. Those words were true. In o far as the south of Ireland was con- cerned there was nothing for England to do but withdraw. The gravest news that has as yet come out-of India consists of the recent message of Gandhi to his devoted’ fol- lowers. He counsels them to adhere to the policy of civil disobedience and non- violence, but he warns them that in pursuing this course with fidelity they mniychexpeel to encounter violence, in which case they must die for the cause. This is not the rhetcric with which one S, position in India is a very who depict the of taking either course as it is But if Gandhi has a vast t is wilitng fo resist British death no man can tell what the putcome must be. THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover “The most difficult adjustment that between one’s own secret, mental growth and the growth of the other human minds with which one comes into con- | write your question, your name and tact.” With this sentence John Cowper Powys begins his chapter on “Culture and Human Relations” in his book, “The Meaning of Culture.” Digested, the sentence means that it is hard to get along with other peo&l‘e‘ ‘The chapter is in essence & balancing of the relative values of solitariness and human association in the life of a cul- tured man, It is possible, Mr. Powys believes, to remain solitary in the midst of association. “In one's contact with the human beings that surround one it is barbarous to reveal every secret emo- tion that they excite—it will only be after long spiritual training that we ac- quire the art of feeling towards them as we wish to feel; but our culture is gravely at fault if we cannot habitual reassure them. We know well enouf how wounding to our own pride certain brusque rebuffs and certain insensitive blunderings are; and it reveals us as lacking in the very rudiments of culture if we cannot at least speak and act with courtesy and consideration.” Mr. Powys’ conception of culture has about it a suggestion of something insincerity, yet not as crude as fin- sincerity. He says: “What indeed is culture if not an elaborate substitute for that spontaneous outpouring of love for all beings, whether human or Sub- human, which so many aof the mystics and saints and artists seem to receive as a gift from Nature? Such a spon- taneous flow of love cannot be acquired by taking thought; but something cor- responding to it can be acquired if cer- tain almost ritualistic movements of consciousness are deliberately repeated gain and again. What we must assume s our starting point, so as to keep our cultural doctrine well within the reach of all, is a natural temperament rather below than above the average degree of intelligence.” Mr. Powys an optimist, to believe that a temperament below the average in intelligence would be able consistently to assume the vir- tue of sympathy if it has it not. * kK X In his chapter, “Culture and Destiny,” Mr. Powys gives a creed of culture. It is something as follows: 1. Culture must have an_instinctive communion with the hypothetical first cause. 2. Culture demands happiness, and if happiness is impossible it makes a “mental gesture of happiness.” 3. “The morality of culture implies a laissez faire attitude toward others * * ¢ other people are not to be meddled with.” 4. Culture must have the two virtues of imaginative compassion and self-controlled courtesy. 5. Culture should follow Goethe's doctrine, “Live in the whole, in the good, in the beau- tiful.” 6. Culture must, above all, recognize and preserve goodness. 7. Culture must be tolerant of all things except cruelty. 8. Culture is aloof from the “industrial hubbub” of the world. 9. Culture needs for its secret life music, painting, sculpture, and, above all, literature. 10. Culture needs solitude and independence. In the dis- cussion of this creed, Mr. Powys evolves many philosophic maxims. “No tricky sophistication, no paradoxical aesthetic theorizing can spoil our simple, direct recognition of the good.” “The one |grand commandment of culture is. ‘Thou shalt not be cruel’ On all other points what true culture does is to suspend its judgment, retain its self-control, govern its own actions ac- cording to its secret cult of silent happi- ness and its secret hostility to noisy, violent pleasures and leave other people alone.” “What the cultured person fin- ally comes to assume is that—short of hideous physical pain or the loss of the only one he really loves—his mind can | do “anything he decides it shall do.” | “There must be certain works of art in | every intelligent person’s life, in whose presence he has had the luck to sur- render himself where the hour and the place cohered, which must remain for- ever in his mind as symbols of his deep- est wrestling with destiny.” “Happy are those persons whose outward destiny leaves them at least one solitary, inde- pendent room to retire to at night.” “Public opinion—led by affected rhe- toricans—is always seeking to encour- age the latest fashions and obsessions in thought, religion and taste. Against all this, culture stands firm, mundln’ itself upon the eternal elements of nature and human nature.” x X % % Australia is becoming more familiar to us through fiction. Henry Handel Richardson shows Australian life in | numerous coast and bush towns, in the el oy | | depth of bush itself, on ranches, as as in the cities, in her trilogy, Fortunes of Richard Mahoney. | Way Home” and “Ultima Thule.’ | “Coonardoo” Katherine Susannah | Prichard has written a story of a cattle | station in the ranching country of West Australia. Coonardoo is a native tribes- wommn_who is taken in charge by Mrs. Bessie Todd, owner of Wytaliba Ranch. It would have been better for her if she had been left in her native environ- ment, for the ways of the civilized are her undoing. The atmosphere of the book is its greatest value. We feel the terrible dryness of the Western Austra- lian plains during a drought and see the suffering of the cattle nad the na- tives. We see the dancing medicine men and hear the aboriginal natives singing their wild songs. * K K X As Summer_ approaches and Euro- pean trips are being planned, it is help- ful to recall the various “So You're Going” books of Clara Laughlin. They are as convenient and readable guide books as one could find. “So You're Going to Germany and Austria,” to be published shortly, will be the result of 5,000 miles of motoring done by Miss Laughlin. “So You're Going to France" includes tours through Normandy, Brit- tany, Burgundy, Touraine, the Pyrenees, the Chateaux, old Provence and to Carcassonne. “So You're Going to Italy” treats fully all the principal cities of Italy and has sections on the Italian lakes and the Italian Riviera. “So You're Going to England” omits none of the English cathedrals of note, none of the beauty spofs such as the Lake Region, Devon and Cornwall. “So You're Going to Paris” and “So You're Going to Rome” are exhaustive guides to everything of historical and artistic interest in the two great capitals and their environs. * kK K A painting by the great Florentine master, Botticelli, lost for centuries and rediscovered only a year ago, has come to this country and entered the per- manent collection of the Fogg Museum at Harvard University. It is a portrait of a thorn-crowned Christ, done in the artist’s late manner, when he was work- ing under the inspiration of Savonarola, the martyred Florentine mbnk. A re- cent biography of Savonarola, by Plerc Misciattelli, one of the most dis- tinguished contemporary Italian writers, traces out the great influence that this religious leader had on Botticelll. “Fra Girolamo lighted in the soul of Botti- celli a divine fire,” Misciattelli writes. Whoever would understand the spirit of the great Florentine painters whom Savonarola ins E 1r e d—Michelangelo, the brothers Della Robbia, as well as Botticelli—should read this vivid dc- scription of the man whose impassioned spirit dominated this whole group. * ok ok ok 5 John Langdon-Davies of “Short His- tory of Women” fame was lecturing at a certain Midwestern university the other day and said: “I have been told that somewhere in America there is a college where you can take the science of cheer-leading for your major subject for a degree; but I have long rej this story as one of those which €] cans love to tell Englishmen in their youth in order that they may have something to laugh at in their old ter the re & member of the !mntindrw him aside and said, “Did you know that this was the uni- versity that once had & course in cheer~ leading?” 0| prench town of Bar-le-duc. ‘This is a special department, devoted one’s personal culture has to make is| to the handling of inquiries. You have at your disposal an extensive organiza- tion in Washington to serve you in any capacity that relates to information. your address clearly, and inclose 2 cents in coin or stamps for reply. Send to The Tvening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, ‘Washington, D. C. Q. What is meant by a gaffer in a motion picture studio?—C. M. A. A gaffer is the chief electrician on a motion picture set. Q. What is the per capita consump- ualx‘: g lNu cream in the United States? A. 1In 1928 it was 2.90 gallons an- nually. This does not take into ac- count ice cream that is made at home. Q. Where was Harper & Bros. lo- cated before moving to East Thirty- third street?—W. 8. A. The firm was located at 331 Pear] street, New York City, for about 15 years, and moved to East Thirty- third street about five years ago. Q. What is a certain kind of preserve called bar-le-duc?—L. H. D. A. It was first manufactured in the It was then made from selected seeded whole white currants. Other fruits are now used in making this conserve. Q. What flowers and trees are in danger of extinction in the United States?—J. H. D. A. Some of them are: Columbine in Colorado, tralling arbutus in Middle West, trilllum and fringed gentian throughout the United States, holly through the South, and dogwood, par- ticularly in the Eastern and Middle Atlantic States. Q. What were the emblems of the ‘ederalist and Whig parties?—F. D. A. Research does, not reveal the con- tinued use of the same emblems by the Federalist and Whig political parties. The black cockade worn on the hat was an emblem adopted by the Federalists during_ the troubles with France in 1798. Black Cockade Fed- eralist was a term of reproach applied to merhbers of the party during the days of its decline. The Whigs were sometimes called Snuff-Takers. Other names used particularly in illustrations were Cotton Whigs and Free-Soil party. This latter term was also applied to the later Democrats and Liberty party. In the Whigs' famous “Hoopla” cam- paign in 1840 there were torchlight processions carrying & miniature log cabin, a barrel of hard cider near the door with a pet raccoon chained to the. roof. Q. Will the Treasury call in the old paper currency of the larger size?— N. N. 'A. The Treasury will not call in the large size paper currency, but as it be- comes worn it will be replaced by new bills. Q. Please give some data about Henri Faust, author of “Halftones and Over- tures,” which won the Yale prize this year—G. H. A. The Yale University Press says that Henri Faust is a resident of Mon- ticello, Ark. His poetry has been ap- pearing in various periodicals for the past six years. In 1928 he won the Southern Prize, awarded annually by the Poetry Society «f South Carolina.| His work has won the praise of such| men as Donald Davidson, Harold Vinal, | John McClure, Charles J. Finger and others. Q. What is meant by a wife's inchoate interest in her husband’s estate?— F. M. W. A. The meaning of the term ugder the intestate laws means the veSted interest which a wife has in a hus- ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. cannot during his lifetime avall her- self of it, cannot be diverted from her use after his death. Q. When was the American flag first unfurled on Jand?—C. D. L. A. It was first used in the fight at (l);)_;)’lcha Bridge, Del, in September, Q. How far is Monte Carlo from Paris?>—H. C. C. A. It is about 687 miles. Q. What does the magic word “abra- cadabra” mean?—D. A. 8. A. 1t is supposed to be derived from Abrascas and was used as an incanta- tion against fevers, inflammation and agues, according to the earliest known authority, Serenus Sammonicas, agnos= tic and physician in the second century to the Emperor Caracalla (Marcus Aurelius). Serenus prescribed that the word be written in the form of an in- verted cone, the paper to be folded in the form of a cross and worn on a linen band as an amulet for nine days and then before sunrise thrown back- ward into a stream flowing east. This procedure made the spirit of the dis- ease lose its hold on the patient. Q. How many people does it take to glrbdle the applications for patents?— A. In the Patent Office there are 62 divisions with 8 to 10 examiners in each division. More than a thousand applications for patents are received each day. Q. In reshingling & roof is 1 ad- visable to lay the shingles over the old m:s.Ror should they be removed? A. The Bureau of Standards says in general it is advisable to apply new wood shingles over the old. All loose shingles should be securely nailed, pro- truding nails driven in, and warped edges of shingles cut off with a chisel to make the surface as uniform as possible. To obtain a neat job and to retain good roof lines, cut away a few inches of the old shingles at the eaves and gables and lay in, where they are cut away, a furring strip, or batten, to hide the sides and butts of the old shingles. Q. When we mA:ry_;};?—s, E. K. . The pyramid period in Egyptian history ended about 2500 B.C. ¢ had lasted about 1,500 years, during which time pyramids were being erected as part of a continual government build- ing program. Q. How much ofl is produced irr all the world annually?—U. F. A. A. The world production of petroleum for 1929 was approximately a billion and a half barrels, Q. Are there plants which devour insects?>—O. B. A. There are a great many varieties of insectivorous plants which grow al- most all over the world. The first group of these plants is known as the pitcher plants, which have the blossom in the form of a pitcher which acts as & death trap for flies and other in- sects. The insects are attracted by a fragrance or some other lure, enter the mouth of the pitcher, and crawl down toward the bottom, being forced onward by small spikes downward pointing from the sides of the pitcher's throat. The poor fly is thus given no chance to escape and when he reaches the bot- tom he is caught in the sticky mass of fluid there and his body juices absorbed by the plant. Two other types of in- sectivorous plants are the Venus' fly- trap genus and the Dionaea, which grows only in the low coast regions of North Carolina. This little plant is probably the most famous stem variety of the insect-eating plants. A thi type is a Sundew Drosera. Which common to Australia. This is also a large genus containing a great varlety T e the pyramids bullt x band’s property and which, while she A NACION, Buenos Aires.—Pass- ing down the Avenida Alvear, we were charmed with the picture presented by a little shoeblack, who apparently does his ‘work with the utmost conscientiousness. He was examining minutely the materials of his trade, which he vociferously guar- antees to produce the best results. Quite unlike his intent and contemplative expression wer@® the expressions, vary- ing only in the degree of passion or ex= citement seen upon our visit to the turf, in the solemn and transfixing moments when the horses arrive at the goal. Different again the expression upon the face of the self-denying and humble soldier of the Salvation Army, admired by all more for the genuine merit and value of his ministrations to humanity than for the melody evoked from the musical instrument (accordion, in this instance) with which he accompanies his hymns. Then the look of timid un- certainty upon _the face of the child at the bathing beach, whom an elder brother, more experienced, is teaching to swim. Or the alert, animated visage of the trafic policeman, telephoning from his, booth to the next post for the ap- rehension of & car that has not obeyed Els signal. Instantaneous ‘photographs, all these, of life in its many phases. * k% X Obesity Is Now More the Vogue. Imparcial, ‘Montevideo.—Embonpoint is again in style. Women are gradually getting rid of the desire for the slim figure and the delicate grace that ac- companies it. Desirous of putting an end to the type tall and tapering, the reaction has brought us to the opposite extreme. Obesity is now more the vogue than attenuation. A while ago we were ing of the divinity of slenderness and all femininity was reducing. Now even the mannequins are displaying again full and insinuating curves. From the type slim, undulating and Botticel- lesque (after an Italian painter), we are passing rapidly to the type of titanic and exuberant. New horizons are therefore opening to the ladies of the fuller contour, whose carnal ent used to be contained in the caustic refrain, “Give me the bai quets and you can have the beaut: Now a healthy appetite s the foremost ally of all those aspiring to the present pinnacle of pulchritude. Female Fal- stafls are to be the rage! * ok ok % Installment Buyer Is Imprisoned. Evening Times, Glasgow.—Consider- able public interest has been aroused as & result of the imprisonment of & Glasgow man who was committed to prison three months ago for the non- delivery of a bicycle which he had pur: chased on the installment system, and which had di red or been stolen. 1t looks as if this man might be kept in prison for the rest of his life, so long as the firm which supplied the bicycle continued to make a sma)' rymem (seven pence a day) for his upkeep. It has been stated that during the past year, in Glasgow alone, nearly 300 persons have been system. t at the ich is being Glasgow dealers imputation of harshness Wi cas them. t up to o “It is no use putting a premium on dishonesty,” sald the manager of a well known ‘firm of gramophone and bicycle ystem has Highlights on the Wide World Excerpts From Newspapers of Other Lands of species. money to keep the deliberate cheats in jail, but at least the publicity given to these cases mllyt_h.ifl as a deterrent to other potential jeves."” Und:’l? the hire-purchase system goods remain the Pmperly of the suppiier until the final payment is made. - SRR Dispute Type of Lances for Picadors. El Comercio, Lima —The muchdebated subject of the kind of lances that should be allowed the picadors for stimulating the bulls in the contests of the plaza seems as far from a decision as ever. Cattle raisers and picadors have very divergent opinions regarding the types of instrument that should be employed in _the ring. In Lima, particularly, the subject is & painful one, for a number of excellent combats have been ruined, as was the case with the fourth bull recently, the animal being slain by the lance of the picador instead of the blade of the matador. In the international code of the pleza, very definite rules are laid down for the sport of the bullring. Here in Lima we violate nearly all of them, with the full kncwledge, if not with the full sanc- tion, of the sporting and legal authorities. Apropos of the matter now discussed, article 59 of the above code provides that the weapon of the picador shall have a point not more than 10 milli- meters in length from the center point of the triangle to the base, where it is fitted into the end of the shaft. This is the standard length, tapering back to a 6-millimeter_base, of the point used on lances in Spain. Right below this there is the blunt shaft end preventing penetration of the point to a distance greater than its own length. In Peru, however, the lance used employs a point of the same dimensicns, but fitted onto the end of a tapered shaft, without a guard or even the buffer afforded by a square-wrepped shaft end. The Peruvian instrument is a formidable spear. The Spanish type is little more than the goad used by ox drivers. Unless we adopt the Spanish goad quickly, bullfighting is going to be_utterly degenerated in Peru. We are much in favor of a national riierendum to see whether it is the will of the people that picadors continue to be equipped with the murderous lance of Peru or the innocent goad of Spain. —.——— Resourceful France. From the Toledo Blade. France is a resourceful nation. When a cabinet breaks down, which happens' often, she always has spare parts at nand with which to make necessary re- pairs. ————————— Credit and Creditors. Prom the Little Rock Arkansas Democrat. Logic will explain almost everything except how the most persistent of your creditors always know when you are broke the flattest. No Waterwagons Either. From the Worcester Telegram. One of the beautiful thi begin igs about 1iv- is Couldn’t Avoid Publicity. From the Dayton Daily News. An Atlantic liner succeeded in dodg- ing a cyclone, not being handicapped to any extent by the dust. e That’s Real Economy. Prom the Jackson Citizen Patriot. us of . honest people who fall behind in payments are ‘given every con- fid‘:num, -ndnn: certainly not 'hro'}v‘n ‘obviously satis- mflnahmhhnh out Germany has reduced her growing was navy by an armed cruiser. This easy. | had to do was to tear up & blue