Evening Star Newspaper, May 4, 1930, Page 39

RISING RIVERS OF SOUTH CALL UP OLD LEVEE FEUDS Alluvial Farmers, Ordinarily Peaceful Citizens, Become Nervous as Floods Threaten. IVERS and creeks of the swampy Southland, after two years of comparative calmness, are again demonstrating their strength to bottom :nflhtmm o_:‘ the wide luvial plains kansas, Tennessee, ullil!hnng'l and Louisiana, and, with Spring freshets approaching, the season for levee feuds is well under way. Only recently a levee guard along the Jower reaches of the Mississippi took a couple of shots at an airplane overhead, because he was quite sure that the pilot was planning to drop a bomb on a mm&m levee to relieve the pressure on _the other side, ‘The levee feud differs from the moun- tain feud bl:&h‘:;&tdhu‘m bui.!uinmh‘l:; tory, no nd of generatior '::yhre between families and no myth of “bad blood.” Ordinarily the inhabitants of the low- lands are a peaceful lot, rather shift- less, to be sure, but amicable, easy and fun-loving. They are rarely hate: ful, seldom venomous and never mur- derous, except when intoxicated. “Smoldering Hate’ Is Absent. is little smoldering hate be- i kel be ('lnned into e ter of dynamite in the trembling o loose the w-te&-l-, ‘:hznhy‘ll:‘eg- ving pressure on their own side. es of attempts circulate through crowds of workers and prmntg 255 can accomplish in a few hours can be accomplished by men only with a of dynamite ;very well placed. Usually the charge is just laid against the side of the levee, which is perhnosl 75 feet thick at the base. It goes off, blowing the water high into the air, but harming the levee very little. In these rare cases the woul levee breakers are almost always appre- hended. Their punishment is swift and sure, once they survive the Joume‘rmw the county jail, and their feat lives long in the memories of river people. Every community along any sizable river has its tales of levee breaking. the acute situation created by leveeful rivers are enough to keep the levee feud alive as long as there are levees. River people, al- though they are never secure their homes and on their farms, have a rev- erence for the soil that gives them sus- tenance. A river which reaches to the top of the levees is a very serious thing and strikes at the very source of their livelihood. River Has Personality. Perhaps it is because the terrors of the river become impersonated in the “folks across the river” that this ill- feeling at times exists. The river cer- tainly has & personality to those whose very life it governs. To those who depend on the mercy of the river for their daily bread the stream has its periods of madness. and 1t is frresistible, uncontroliable. Those who fight Tealize the futility of throwing & heap of sandbags into a torrent of muddy water, and, te unconsciously perhaps, they trans- alities of their foe to ips different sides of the river may have the same levee engineer. As the water goes over the top of the levee on one side of the xziver, this engineer is accused of building the levees on the other side a little bit higher. Perhaps he has some if he finds any of the “crowd across|are the river” monkeying with the levees. Every obsolete pistol and riffe in ‘the S B S out ant on the AN mhmv.helhmxldzrlw of these ordi- narily peace-loving citizens. Camps Become Arsenals. Levee camps become arsenals and all t unshaven, 1is & levee quietly’ river ' imaginative minds. spot bet: the Inlp?czi‘;nwt?ilz hn}n :t.: ween ips of levee guards, it is nearly always laid to the activities of some knave who has used the “mercury met = Themnumtmmurfourp&m to | 3f mercury placed in & slight hole s'§ iég ggél ! gggg s geEERasd g g | i B<E, g3 ok % E i £ i £t i ; i1 ES i 5 H E Es : g levee below the water line its way noiselessly through at ‘whi becomes the A a g 2 Sgb §18 £8 Gulf Stream Shifting Westward, Says Commander of Berengaria § Gulf Stream come nearer to and Coney Island tropical flowers? by the obser- HH R I L : Egggge‘gsgég g an ocean river about 60 miles wide on stralt varying in width Gulf is approximately 2,000 feet deep, once it has reached the open sea. At some ts, at any rate, it 15 hundreds of feet in depth. Its temperature is easily taken by mariners Who lower a thermometer into it. Feel- ing the pulse of the feverish curren has been a practice for years and is always alive with sclentific interest. ‘The stream temperature st the be- ginning of its long journey is about 80 degrees. As it goes north it registers in the seventies, and then drops to & temperate warmth. Capt. Rostron re- Poed 96 degrees off the New England Wais last trip. The pulse, or speed, of the current varies from less than 2 gylas ée & miles an hour. Cools as It Travels Eastward. ‘This current skirts along Florida and is not far from the North Carolina shores. Florida would be sub-tropical ald. PFarther nc palmettos and other trees associated With equatorial temperatures, but they are far from luxuriant. Off Hatteras the stream begins to spread out. Off the banks of Newfoundland it meets the eold currents from the Arctic. The re- sult is fog. It begins to bend eastward, s move- ment which is traced to the western and northwesterly winds, which usually prevail, and grows wider and cooler. As it approaches the Old World, at about 20 degrees west longitude, the drift splits into branches. One arm flung toward the Spanish coast, another embraces Africa, a third about the British Isles, where, spreading again ;:ol}:w long fingers, it reaches into the seas. It will be noted that the movements of the stream are affected by the winds. If the winds become easterly, it would be expected it would tend aj itly to its course, possibly to be nearer N America. Variations, as phers have commented on Capt. Rostron's account, may be ex- pected if there are unusual movements in the atmosphere. Easterly Winds Blamed. ‘The chief forecaster here, James H. Scarr, in charge of the Weather Bu- assistant, Mr. - different from greenish hue of the ocean. As a matter of fact, rs do observe the dif- ference to hue under favorable condi- tions, a state probably due to particles of matter taken up in the Gulf and causing certain reactions to the light. ‘The Gulf Stream water, being of less density than that of the ocean, also gives less resistance to the propellers. Veteran navigators profess to be able to tell when they are in the current ;:en at night by the way the ship be- ves Action of the wind, however, as from the east, may give a sawlike edge to the current, or even cause it to spread over a wider surface. But this effect, according to the authorities, is super- ficial and temporary. Important Variation Noted. Once the winds resume their tendency to blow from the west and the north- west, the stream settles back to the normal course. It is held that there is no permanent change in all these years, although from time to time navigators observe what seems to be important variations. As far as the eastern coast of North America is concerned, whatever warm- ing effects the Gulf Stream may have are counterbalanced by the Labrador Current. The chill river of the sea cuts g‘ ]l;etween us and the glow from the ulf. As far as getting a swift change of climate with the aid of the wa wa~ ters of the Gulf Stream, the chances do not seem good. There are even skeptics who maintain that the relatively mild ‘Winters which are supposed to be the | im, good fortune of Europe are not at all due to the influence of the Mexican is |CurTent, as was once the generally ac- cepted theory. The use of the umbrella comes from the Orient, whers it is used rather as a tection from the than the' the prof sun grom ” e ‘will slowly eat | ceived graduate he had - | there should be a referendum of tha THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTO D. C, MAY 4, 1930—PART TWO. Youth’s Quest for Life Where Can He Find What He Craves?—When He Does, Will He Find Happiness? BY ROBERT HICHENS, Famous British Author. ‘That is what the eager | ple he thinks lonley places, or among peo] of as dull; in the flelds, or by the sands of the sea, or in the forest, or in the midst of village or small town relations and compenions who in his opinion know nothing of life. And what does he usually mean by life? I think he usually means crowds, men in -mobs, women in cataracts, children—but prob- ably he doesn’t bother about children. It is only later that he thinks about , perhaps, when he has a compan- ion, and the income is small, and yet they both have the urging instinct to create, to be fruitful and multiply. Even as a boy I was very much con- cerned about Life, and my concern be- came feverish in the critical yénss, let us say, between 19 and 25. At a most tender age I remember thinking that my father didn’t know very much about life and that my dear mother. to whom I was always devoted, knew just nn:j:lng at all. You see, they were both the victims of a great drawback. ‘They didn’t live in London. They never had lived in London. My father went there very often for concerts, He was an in ly musical man. But he chose oon concerts and was back in the country by nightfall. Scoffed at “Country Air.” As to my mother, she visited London to see the dentist and the dressmaker and to buy new hats, and she, too, hast- ened back to sleep in country air. There was a great deal said about country air in my youth, but I took very little mx’y’r‘ %t' . & it lu;em fron: el of ours, & me Tound t::::h e was ediately fount as! was o 4 . I mentioned this there life seemed to be drawing a little nearer to me. But, of course, I was being educated and had no time or op- portunity to run loose. Sometimes, ‘when we drove into Bristol at night to see Irving in “The Bells” or to hear Albani in the “Elijah,” I peered into the street, not too well lighted, and there it seemed to me that I was at least looking at Life. I saw soldiers, I saw girls with them; people at street corners dmhlking and laughing: :ug;ndowry res g am s near nn{n“ River mlkm:e looking men the docks, where ships heads in the glare of the ting hands. And this I thought of as life, and I had Had Indulgent Father. ‘Well, I had an indulgent father. He| intended to send me to Magdalen Col- ord, where my two brothers | to went, but it was his fault I had re- a passion for music, and as when he had an Oxford under- most ef his BY HENRY W. BUNN. HE following is a brief summary of the most important news of the world for the seven days ended May 3, COMMONWEALTH OF BRITISH NATIONS.—The other day, in order to not stand for it. His ideal same as that of the “crusaders” for free trade within the British Commonwealth of Nations, coupled with common pro- tective barriers the rest of the planet; but one must make terms with realities, and there was no reality more evident than the hostility of the Brit- announced a new program implying the possibility of food duties, as follows: 1. The next general elections should not be fought on the issue of food duties, since, in_his on (I do not '.hbu;-tr?;mtl ledged inst ) agal such policy over a period to include its next tenure of the power. 2. ‘The Conservatives again in power, there should be a conference in which representatives of all the member states of the British Commonwealth of Nations and of all the imperial dependencies reach s amount of intra-imperial free trade coupled with protection against the out- side world. 3. Should the conclusion substan- tially approximate the ideal of ‘“‘eco- nomic unity of the empire” (1. the British Commonwealth of Nations), conclusion to the United Kingdom— i.e, the voters should “declare whether within they are or are not willing to have as much free trade as is possible with the rest of the British Commonwealth of Nhtions at the cost of a protective tariff, including food taxes, against the rest of the world.” Rejection of the proposal should not prejudice the life of the government. 4. Should the be approved by the voters the government would at once go to the country in a general election, asking to be returned with a mandate to revise the British fiscal system in the sense of the proposal. I suspect that it was with t re- luctance that Mr. Baldwin evolved and issued this program, but, the thing done, his skeptical inhibitions lapsed for the nonce and he found himself declaring: “Believe me, there is no alternative to the vision of the eco- nomic unity of our empire except its timate dissolution. We must wed im- perial policy with domestic policy if we are going to make the greatest effort possible toward the development of our country and the solution of our own economic problems.” Ah, nobody knows better than your excellency that marriage is generally an affair of great and continuous compro- mise. It is a pity that the extremists, the Rothermeres and the Beaverbrooks, should constrain you to repudiate for the nonce the principle of compromise, the informing principle of the pre- eminent British achievement: . Since that speech we have had astounding evidence that the dominions propose to construct their fiscal systems, each with reference to its own interest, real or agined, and with -little reference to the exigencies of the mother country. There was a surplus of $65,000 on the budget operations of the fiscal year of the Irish State just ended. The new budget is practically a reproduction of the old, the latter having worked out very well, The total public debt of Free State is about the equivalent $126,000,000, comparatively very i ! plano playing. But at night T walked| forth into the world of London to ob- serve life, to “study” humanity instead of harmony and counterpoint. Where @id T go? It seemed to me that I went| almost everywhere; that is, everywhere| that could be visited without payment. How tumultuously busy is the mind! Almost every face I glanced suggested trains of thought to me, and the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts. The fascination of the vast city in darkness was to me por- tentous. I remember that sometimes I tad & feeling as if it positively filled me up and swelled me out like a| bladder. I felt almost bursting with the influences that were being into me or that were flowing into me unconsc y. These masses of strangers—they were life. Those crowds near the Marble Arch listening to ath- elsts denouncing religion, or to radicals denouncing conservatism, or to anarch- ists denouncing law and order, or to pacifists denouncing militarism—they were life, And it was Life, these silent rows of people in the pits of the theater which I frequented, and these congregations flowing out of the lighted churches on Sunday evenings and these lively mobs round the bands in Hyde Park in the late Summer nights, and these li - ing throngs, all eyes, in Piccadilly Circus just after 11, and these loitering night birds later in Regent street. The thrill of it comes back to me even now as I think of #t. Life in a great city. People in crowds doing things! People pressed together, taking their pleasures together, committing their sins in com- pany, going on toward death—but I didn’t think great masses. very often of that—in I was obsessed by the city and ecity ROBERT HICHENS—HE SOUGHT AND’EOUND HAPPINESS. time to music, I suppose he hadn't the heart to be wordly wise or to be con- temptuous of my young and futile am- bitions. Anyhow, he allowed me to en- ter at the Royal College of Music in London as a student of the pianoforte and the organ arfd to give up all thoughts of Oxford. The consequence of this permission was that at the age of 20 I confronted | bod: life; that is to say, I started living alone in lodgings in Kensington, and was in the wonderful condition of being what is usually called “my own master.” I remained in London for about 14 years. I was desperately fond of Lon- don. A famous Englishman, now more than 80, but still vigorous and active, said to me not long ago: “No, I don't care for the country. I'm a London w.- All my life I have loved the chimney pots and the pavements, and I love them now more than ever.” During those 14 years I suppose I was & London sparrow, if it's ble become one when you haven't been born one. I was infatuated with town small and with ample provision made for its redemption. * x X% FRANCE.—Official statistics just pub- lished show that in 1929 deaths ex- ceeded births in France by nearly 12,600. In the years 1925-28 inclusive there was an annual excess of births over deaths ranging from 53,000 to 72,000. That is, the population has for some time been almost stationary. With an exceptional drop last year. An official explanation of the latter is not offered, but I suspect that an accelerating death rate among disabled or enfeebled war veterans was in some degree responsible. But, even allowing the utmost for that m Lithograph by Eric Pape. was, I think, rather like a boy looking in from the street at a wonderful party in a house to which he has not been invited. In those days I knew prac- tically nobody in London, nobody both- ered about me. I was & young musical student, living in a couple of furnished rooms in a side street in Kensington, of no importance, of no interest to any- y. But everybody was of interest to me— everybody, that is to say, who lived and moved and had their being in lnndona ll;‘;n-t hl be]lev;: :hn I‘: nmm“é suppose( e people I saw hu: by to be Londoners. I think I was very naive in those days, though I didn’t consider myself so. On the con- trary, I very soon supposed that by vir- tue of living “on my own” in Kensing- ton and observing the crowds in Ken- sington High street I had acquired a remarkable insight into life. Attended Royal College. During the day I was practicing, at- tending lectures at the Royal College, studying harmony and counterpoint, having lessons from Sir Walter Parratt and Mr. Algernon Ashton in organ and factor, the French death rate is ap- pallingly high. In 1926 it was 175 and 11.6 for England that year there were 72,000 more in France than in land but 260,000 more deaths. The French death rate is higher than the Italian, and not much lower than those of Spain, Bulgaria and Rumania. It is & matter that naturally much concerns the PFrench authorities. Inadequate sanitary arrangements and medical service (strange in the country of Pas- teur, & country so renowned for science) partly explain, but France can Origin of Cyclone Traced by Observers, Causes, Direction and Frequency Listed (Continued Prom First Page.) Brazil and Argentina and from it the wind blows toward the northwest over the ocean to the north. These winds are called the southeast trades and they travel much farther to the north than the northeast trades travel toward the south, actually crossing the Equator into the Northern Hemisphere at all points between the west coast of Africa and the northeast coast of South Amer- ica. Between the northeast and the southeast trade winds there is a nar- row belt of light variable winds called the doldrums. This belt moves slowly northward and southward with the sun, but lagging somewhat and reaching its farthest north position in August, be- ':: b:: move south again in early It 18 in the eastern portion of thi; belt of doldrums that most of the de- structive hurricanes of the West Indies region form. It is not definitely known Just how & cyclonic circulation is set uj this region, but all the enunh.l‘: that go to make up a cyclonic disturb- ance, such as heat, a large amount of moisture and opposite directed currents of air, are present in full measure. ‘The southeast trades after crossing the Equator are, because of the earth’s rotation, deflected toward the north and northeast, so that when the beh of doldrums is farthest north and ex- tends from Cape Verde, Africa, west- southwestward to the coast of British Guiana, South America, that portion south of the Cape Verde Islands actu- ally has southwest winds to the south- ward and rather strong northeast trade winds to the northward. These ditions, together with the deflective force of the earth's rotation, which in- creases with distance from the Equator, result in a cyclonic circulation being established. Once started, increase in extent and Intensity quickly follows, as & rule, and the cyclone moves off to the west, be! carried along by the prevailing drift o the air toward the west in the troplcs. The rate of movement of these storms is usually from 8 to 15 miles an hour, but sometimes reaches nearly 20 miles an hour. By the time they reach the Lesser Antilles they are quite often ac- ~ompanied by winds of destructive force and are full-fledged West Indian hurricanes. If the hurricanes &ua well to the south of Porto Rico, they usually con- tinue moving in a westerly direction until the western Caribbean Sea is reached, when they are likely to re- curve and pass through the Yucatan Channel or over extreme Western Cuba, veaching the coast of the United States most often west of the Apalachicola River. If, however, a hurricane center passes near or north of Porto Rico, it will likely recurve to the north and northeast over or east of the Bahamas or else continue to move toward the northwest and reach the East Florida coast, as was the case in’ September 1926, and again in , 1 It has been found that when a trop- ricane strength; during during August, 75 in 9: 9 iring first half of September, 62 in 9, rapidly decreasing to 1 chance in 9 in November. So far as is known, no hurricane has ever reached the coast of the United Sfates before June or after November, and the number in June, Jlll!“ and November is vely amall. During the 50 years 1879-1928 there was a total of 316 tropical cyclones, whether or not of hurricane intensity, in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Carib- bean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, this being an average of 6.3 a year. mfl:s the first 25 years there were 174 al during the second 25-year period there were 142. During the 50-year period 60 per cent of all tropical cyclones reac the coast of the United States, and slightly more than half of these were of hurricane intensity. A detailed study of the 50-ydr rec- ord shows that the number of hurri- canes varies from year to year, as does the portion of coast line affected. How- ever, the average number of years be- tween hurricanes per 100 miles of coast Iine is as follows: Texas, 7.7; Louisiana, 12.5; llhfllaflrpl, 3.2; Alabama, 3.8; Gulf eoast of Florida, 1 tlantic const of Florida, 20; both coasts of Florida, 15.2; Georgla, 7.1; South Caro- ling, 7.8; North Carolina, 13.5; all Statcs, 10.4. It should not be ex) that the averages here given be maintained indefinitely. In a record of 100 or 200 years some of them will doubtless show comparatively little variation, but a few will show considerable change. For ex- ample, the high average of Mississipp! and Alabama is due, in & measure, | to the abnormally large num! of hur- | flcanes during the decade 1909- | Cherefore it is safe to assume that record of 100 or 200 years would mate~ cially reduce these averages. Only 16 of the 84 tropical cyclones of hurricane intensity that reached the toast of the United States during the last 50 years can be classed as “great” hurricanes, both as to intensity and diameter. Included in the 16 are the Galveston hurricanes of 1900 and 1915, the New Orleans hurricane of 1915 and the Florida hurricanes of 1926 and 1928. The disaster of the path of great dam- sge is from 50 to 100 miles, or more in hurricanes such as these 16, but usu- ally less than 50 miles if the is of the “small” type. All hurricanes begin to decrease in Intensity as scon as their centers reach land, because of the much greater fric- tion of land surfaces as compared with the surface of the sea. As they move inland they decrease quite rapidly in intensity, dissipating within a day or two if mountal s or even quite roll- ing country is over. Torrential nfm continue, however, near the cen- ter of the disturbance even after they are of minor intensity. - hu e e “University City” in Paris. He has now life. My voracity increased as the meal prolonged itself. terest Rejected by Music. Life ¢! for me. Music rejected me. (I could never dare to say that I rejected music.) I went to the 1d School of Journalism. I felt the fas- cination of Fleet street, of Chancery Lane, of the Strand, full of actors going to their mysterious work or coming away from it. I frequented “Meccas” with troups of friends who meant to “go in for writing.” Life shrieked to me. T took a flat in Shaftesbury ave- nue! This L considered to be the center of Life. I furnished it in blue and white, in green and dark red, and felt myself to be a connoisseur of Life. That flat was on, I think, a fourth— or was it & fifth—floor? Let me say fourth. I was on a fourth floor in & burglar lived above me, a lady of pleasure at right angles to me. later, when I stumbled up against him on the narrow stairs at 2 o'clock in the morning, going out with a dark lantern to follow his very interesting profession, and when the police came to search for him whil® he hid in a cistern. The lady ‘of pleuun I had the honor of “spotting” almost as soon as my blue and white china was properly I never knew her, but I with feelings of deep res) use she was Life. For something like two years, or perhaps even longer, I lived (Continued on Fourth Page.) London | 88ainst ‘The burglar I knew about only much | r | plant the opium 8 WESTERN REFORM IDEAS PROVE BANE TO CHINA Northerners Resist War on Old Customs, BY DOROTHY GOULD. EIPING.—In China, as in the United States, the great political question of the hour is whether or not the reformers are to be permitted to run the country. nmites, personal greed ane self- ish ambition no doubt motivate many of the politicians in both countries, but fundamentally the present dispute about reform activities of the Naf - ist government at Nanking. Most of the Nationalist statesmen are Southerners of a very advanced type, eager to see China take its place with the great pow- they have promulgated one reform de- cree after another and have forbidden scores of ancilent consider incom; le with progress. ‘The more slow-moving Northerners, however, look askance on these attempts to destroy China’s ancient culture and to foist allen custom upon the people. ‘They believe that after two decades of reforms and civil warfare China's cry- ing need is not more reforms, but rather & “back-to-normal” regime. Posters Spread Reforms. The present reform campaigns - in China are of many kinds, some pro- found and some ridiculous. There an anti-oplum campaign, of course; s campalgn to abolish bound feet for women and queues for men, and tra- ditional funeral and dent. Over all, a which in some places has & war on religion itself, is being waged. ‘The value of propaganda in educa- tional camj was de China by 't agents fi and the present reformers lesson o temperate of all races, but in the use of opium they lead the world. Government statistics here are in- complete on any subject, and this is especially true of the traffic in opium, which is fllegal. It is as difficult, there- fore, to learn about the actual con- sumption of the drug here as it is to et information on the consumption of fifl\lfl in the United States. There is even the same difference in opinion concerning its use, some Chinese insist- ing that a moderate use of oplum is not harmful and that the individual should have the right to decide whether to take it or not. Taxes Enrich War Lords. Some of the war lords who came into power as a result of the revolution were opposed to the oplum traffic and kept it down. But others not only offe no assistance to the prohibition campaign, but even commanded the farmers to poppy so_that they could share in the grl)xt& Many mili- | tarists thus made huge fortunes from | the taxes on opium crops. ‘The present Chinese Anti-Opium As- sociation operates under the auspices of the Nationalist government. In some laces it undoubtedly does work, t in China, as in the United States, there are some prohibition officers who ith those whom actually co-operate Wil the: o te. y are supposed upmucn . lem of opium in China is the problem F hardly be inferior in th ards to Italy or Hungary. There m\‘;:g be pe- culiar causes not sufficiently under- stood. The French devoutly wish that cannon-fodder, but one may not be sure. No wonder the French authorities are worrled. Premier Tardieu's ‘prwnm calls for a considerable expenditure for B 202" the “popusstionof Ttaly ation o was increased by 375,000, that of Germany by 850,000 and that of Spain by 200,000. The present populations of Italy and France are almost precisely the same, viz, about 40,700,000. But of the French population nearly 2,000,000 are aliens, while there are comparatively few aliens in Italy. The population of Germany is about 62,000,000. In 1863 the French birth rate was above 1,000,000; in 1929 it was only 728,000. But, of course, the birth rate of Britain, Germany and Italy have fallen remarkably since 1863. g}:: trouble with Prance is the mortality Two years ago John D. Rockefeller, ir., gave $2,000,000 toward construction of a building or buildings to house the central offices and meeting rooms of the added $1,500,000 to the gift. On March 18 there were elaborate ceremonies at the Sorbonne in honor of the centenary of the birth of Fustel de Cdlllln&m author of that master- pi te Antique.” The publisher’s ‘Shyingmut” was published at his own expense. ¢ * k% x ITALY.—Hot foot on the heels of the London Naval Conference, Italy an- nounces the intention to increase her navy by 42,900 tons, to include 22 sub- marines; to “help bring the Italian navy up to parity with the French.” “Ah, but,” say the French, ‘“you're showing your teeth with a ance. In youur desperate economic condition you know you can't afford it.” “Ah, but,” reply the Italians, “we can't afford not to.” So there you are; the millen- nium gets another rebuff. account, St. Cecilia was a Roman pa- trician lady who, with her husband and others whom she had converted to Christianity, suffered martydom in the Eternal City in the year 230—that is, 1,700 years ago. Of few martyrs is the memory so fragrant. She is the patron saint of music and the blind. Raphael, Rubens and Domenichino have repre- sented her in paintings; Dryden, not by nature a lyric poet, was inspired to one of the most superb of lyric flights in his “Ode for St. Cecilla’s Day”; Handel set that ode to music, and Chaucer told her story in the “Seconde Nonnes Tale.” Raphael's “St. Cecilia,” now at Bolognia, and one of his best works, shows the saint listening in rap- ture to the heavenly choir above her, while her earthly instruments lie abandoned at her feet. In Rubens’ paintings, now at Berlin, the salnt plays on a hord and sings, and four angels, attracted by her music attend her. (His Cecllia is really his second wife, Helene Fourment.) The Frescos of Domenic Hinio in San Luigi del Francisi, Rome (perhaps the painter's happlest achievement), give the martyr's story, including her assumption, in some detail. * ok k k INDIA—The viceroy of India, Lord | Irwin, has issued an ordinance putting @ rather strict curb on the native In- dian press and denouncing rather seri- | ous penalties for disobedience thereto. On April 28, in a clash at Madras, two natives were shot dead by police, and & number of natives and policemen were injured. The same day, at 5;;]“!’11, a great Nationalist parade, there will never again be occasion for | Even more of gambling. In this country, where much of the population is dangerousl: near the subsistence level, gambling often has serious results since extrava- | gant amounts are often involved. i " Mah jongg. China’s game of chance be- tween the two factions in China centers | g Queues and Such as Southerners Press Cause of “Modernization.” s nm':nm 'dhli-:%ln‘eu ar lev] 3 Pito the "night the click. of the ers of the Western world. To this end | this actices which they | tice has ting reform being urged here now is the tion of funeral practices. ‘The government is trying to dis- courage the elaborate funeral proces- sions, those gorgeous mile-long which are one of the sights of China. But old-fashioned fa: still and other elaborate ceremonies make Chinese funerals so , but continual feasting that marks the oce Throughout the period of mourn! frienids S Telativos fom eotied s under the weight of the dead hand Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. It is contended that the beautiful tomb that the government bullt Nanking for the revolutionary leader is out of keeping with the modern reform trend. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's widow has been unsparing in her denunciation of the party politiclans, who are reputed to have spent $27,000 for the coffin alone, while the poor people of Chins suffer famine. " Boycott Aganinst Japan. China imports vast quantities of Jap- anese merchandise, but about two yesrs 2go a number of unofficial goods. The chants who attempted to sell Japanese go0ds were fined by these enthusiastis patriots, who even went so far as to confiscate all the Japanese merchandise Burchasers of the bann rchasers of ed articles also were punished by fines and humilie ated A big wooden cage was near the Chien Men, the most imj gate of the Tartar Wall which sur- rounds Peiping, and some unlucky indie Eociely were aprisonca ‘i ToAr e ef for )nura.’ e Recently, however, the boycott ssso- ciation fell into ill repute, because 1t was proved that the zeal of the patriots was inspired chiefly by the desire to :g:tc:n themfilva 1mmuf.hz proceeds of es and confiscations which they enacted. - During trouble with Soviet Rus- sla in connection with the seizure of the Chinese Eastern Railway, a nation- wide anti-Ruasian cam; started. - As on the occasion of movement, and the anti-British move- ment prior to that, h and non-payment of land revenue taxes in certain districts, |8 It is revea'ed that in the Peshawur | astair the behavior of two of | Hindu troops was “unsatist: In | consequence the battalion of which they i{orm a part has been isolated pending | an inquiry. And now come rumors of | dissatisfaction among the Sikh troops. J. M. Sen Gupta, now serving a six- month prison sentence for sedition and conspiracy in connection with the | Gandh! cam , has been re-elected | mayor of Calcutta for the fifth time. There is a movement among the “un- touchables,” whose grievances are re- platoons ! ma Gandhi, to embrace Islam. Here is something of first. portance. We are told that the British government has authorized Lord Irwin to take whatever “decisive action” he may ' consider necessary & the “civil disobedience” campaign. True to Oriental type, the Hindus have mis- taken Mr. Macdonald’s forbearance for weakness. Apparently they thought he no longer stood by the assertion made by him in 1924, just before he was in- vited to form his first government, as follows: ‘“No party in Great Britain will ‘lfi go"ed alldy"’t.hlfll'.l of force “thu’) icles design: bring government T“mnuauu. If any Indian sections are under the delugion that that is not so, events will very sadly disappoint them.” Along with the statement just quoted he reaffirmed faith in “political or con- stitutional ways.” Such s way is of- fered in the round-table conference, to include British and Indian representa- tives, scheduled to take place some time this year, following publication of the report of the Simon commission. spite the current unpleasantness, it does | not seem absolutely impossible that the Indian Nationalists will consent to par- ticipate in that conference. gress” to be held in Peiping this Con, " month, in which it is expected that some 14 of the 22 provinces of China will be represented, to formally establish a new “solid non-military” government for China and take proper order for its constitutional edifice. Of course, though non-military in spirit, an army would be temporarily necessary for the new government, and our old friend Feng Yu-Hslang is h:?puy available for the command therof. There is to be a party corresponding to the original conception of the Kuomintang (to be entirely democratic), for the leadership of which Wang Chaing-Wel, long leader of the Left Wing of the Kuomintang, has been designated. Peking (the proud old ml:lc %Infi “Peiping,” the name given by anking govern- ed to dishonored oblivion) is to be the capital. Yen Shid-Shan promised a manifesto which shall adequately enlighten the world as to his plans. * ok ok ok NOTES.—The Spanish government has designated November 15 as the date for registration for elections to & new Cortes. The date for the elections 4,000,000 Christians, an Greek, in Turkey. Estimates of the resent number vary between 11,000 and 0,000. Again a date—namely May 15—has been set for delayed Sino-Ru Moscow for nent settlement of the Chinese tern Rallw: ite. chanting of songs against the government, was followed by the burn- ing of a great pile of foreign-made dou;'d v.ha‘:hua & military airplane ob- serve gs from _above. And the umn:’::?”llnmm Gandhi made the important move of authorizing Indeed, the Chinese delegation seems to_have started for Moscow. If you want to see the last Heath celving little satisfaction from Mahat- | S L paign a protest against United States for refusing to give up itorial rights, but this move- ment made very little headway. The agitation queues has come more persistent with every B | Chinese men were ordered to cut off their queues at the time of the over- throw of the Manchu dynasty 18 years :ng: butum tl;l:l t‘l;y. even in such & tropolis as Peiping, some of the old- fashioned braids are still to be seen. = ‘Women Still Bind Feet. Far more persistent than the queues are the bound feet of China's | folk. Even today, in spite of official orders and in spite of the eamnest cam| of educated women, little girls are still having their feet bound i Tatge s Fow, b ey les now, but in m) persuade w'ufh to n{phce their anclent calendar’with the foreign one is meeting with more opposition in China, perhaps, than any er reform. For 40 centuries the Chinese New Year has been the great holiday of this country and the people refuse to give it up. Ever since the OTicilly 3dopted. he Westers paindme le Western calendar, but the Nationalist government is de- termined that it shl‘fi also come into eral use. This year it has forbidden printing of the old lunar calendars, and documents dated in the old way are 3 President Chiang Kal-shek made 8 tles. The police of Nanking had been ordered to check any preparations for celebra the old holiday. but on dawn of Chinese New Year even the chief of police himself took s holi- et T, st Sne: e en! ready tgr :m‘k . ent Chiang Kal-Shek was fur- ther by the ht of greeting cards lying about on and the to congral him, appointing & comandant of gendarmes to succeed him. nificant that the new a) mediately asked for five \bsence befc al fore assuming his new the five days coinciding with tional period devoted to the tion of the old holiday. —— Would Invest an Avenue With Clemenceau’s Name under its new name, avenue du Marechal Foch. But al th the matter E s g fial £ ds. enceau have such bitter enemi their enmity persists even after ad i hen, go to Marthas Vineyard, and go jui . Oh the pot-hunters, and orse et 4o the pestdb-sportaman. o™’ Has the matter llmny been f Or did the old man forbid the of a street for him in some secret tament? Paris wants to knoy. i