Evening Star Newspaper, August 4, 1930, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY.. August 4, 1930 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: Hl" St. Ne ork. and Pennsylvania Ave Office. 110 East 42nd 8t. icago Office: Lake Michigan Butlding. o Office_ 14 Tregent 8., London. England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. vening Star - : -45¢ rer month vening and Sunday Ster when 4 Sundays) .. .80c per month ening and Sunday Star Twhen 5 undays) -.o.......65¢ per month nday Star < L...5c per copy Collection made at the end of sach month §idors max be sent in by mail or ielephoné onal 3000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. nd and Virginia. 1¥r. 110.00: 1 mo.. 85¢ £6.00: 1 mo.. 50c 34:00: 1 mo.. 40c Maryla: aily and Sunday.. ily only . uncay only All Other States and Canada. fly and Sunday..]yr.$12.00: 1mo.. yr., $800° 1 mo.. §:u.v only 1y unday only ...1¥r, $5.00; 1 mo. Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news c Faiches crecited to it or not otheraise cred- ted in this peper and slso the local 1ews published her 3. All rights of publication of special dispaiches herein are-also reserved 155, — Budget Procedure and the District. ‘The District budget, prepared by the District Corgmissioners, is undergoing its annual overhauling at the hands ©of the Bureau of the Budget. After hearings, at which the Commissioners appear to defend their recommenda- tions, the amount of municipal funds to be recommended to Congress will be included as making up the grand total ©of the Federal budget. This is the practice established by the Budget Bu- reau in the past and, so far as known, it will be continued. As a matter of fact, it is confusing and illogical and should be changed. In the first place the Federal budget yepresents expenditures of Federal funds. Nearly eighty per cent of the local budget represents funds derived wholly from local tax revenue or from other local sources with which the Fed- eral Covernment 'is not concerned. They do not belong in the Federal budget. For several years the District suf- fered by reasonv-of the fact that the President’s directions to shave Federal ‘estimates and keep them to the pre- ceding year's appropriations were ap- plied literally to the District budget, If the benefits of such economy had fol- lowed the paring process there might bhave been a different story. Taxes might have been reduced. But Congress at the same time was specifically for- bidding a reduction in local taxes. The only result was the accumulation of surplus revenue that pressnted the District’s need for more funds in a to- tally erroneous Jight. A number of members of Congress were unable to ° understand the logic of a plea for a greater contribution from the Federal Government made in the face of a healthy cash balance of unexpended local funds. Local revenue raised by local taxes shouid not remain idle, of course, and there were plenty of ways to spend the money. But the Budget Bureau stood in the way. Under Maj. Roop's administration this policy was changed last year to permit the Commissioners to base thelr estimates on the amount of money avallable instead of upon the previous year's appropriations, and that policy should be continued. The anomalous feature of the system, however, lies in the fact that the Dis- trict Commissioners are appointed by tile President for the general purpose of administering the affairs of the munici- pality, and their authority naturally in- cludes the important duty of planning for municipal growth and batterment. ‘Within the last few days the President conferred with the Commissioners on the subject of preparing a legislative program for submission to Congress in December. But the power of the Com- missioners to plan and to recommend specific expenditures is subjugated when the estimates leave their hands. The Budget Bureau can and does change at will. The changes apply not only to amounts recommended, but to the na- ture of projects that are advised. When the budget reaches the Appropriations Committee the Commissioners are some- ‘tims testifying in behalf of Budget Bureau changss—not their own. The reason for this careful Budget Bureau supervision of estimaios, as they concern Federal expenditures, is, of course, understood. But the budget of 8 growing municipality, representing chiefly the expenditure of local revenues, is another matter. The former Commissioners inter- preted as nwlyin, to themseives various orders of former Presidents Harding| .and Coolidge relating to budget pro-| Lcedure. One of these—typical of the ‘yest—reads in part as follows: “I regret that there are still some officials who apparently feel that the estimates trans- Tnitted to the Bureau of the Budget are the estimates which they are authorized to advocate before the committees of Congress. Let me say here that under the budget and accounting act the only lawful estimates are those which the Chief Executive transmits (o Congress. * * * This law must be observed not only in its letter but in its spirit.” But opposed to this is a provision in- Serted in the 1923 apropriation act for the District which states, with other things, that “the Commissioners of the “ District shall not be restricted in sub- mitting to the Bureau of the Budget their estimates of the needs of the Dis- trict, but they shall, as near as may be, bring them within the probable aggre- te of the fixed proportionate appro- priations to be paid by the United States and the District of Columbia.” If the Commissioners were not to be “estricted” in their estimates under the fixed proportion, there -is less Tea- son for their restriction by the Budget Bureau under the year-to-year pplicy now pursued by Congress in deflance of substantive law. A much smalier proportion of Federal money is now ch- ligated. The District budget should either be handled by the Budget Bureau as sepa- rate and distinct frcm the Federal ‘ budget or else the law should be changed to obviate the necrisity of ils ' examination by the Budget Burezu. Land and Air Limitation. Whenever Viscount Ce~il of Chel- ‘wood—best known in this couniry @8 ., Lord Robert Cecil—discusses world peace, he is asured of a wide and eympzinetic audience, for sincerity, as well as profound international kmowl- mr.%rm 2 ir-nseoeent ggmani- wnhmlflm”fllm-tsmmflhht that had been wrested acter of this bearer of a great British mame. Addres:ing the American radio sudi- | ence yesterday from London, Lord | Cecil pleaded for “the next step” in lhlrm‘athn of armament. He called the London naval treaty, as President Hoover has called it, “a great accom- plishment for peace,” but says it does not go far enough. The goa] toward which the apostles of peace and dis- armament—Lord Cecil describes them as “very nearly convertible terms'— must now direct their energies is the limitation of Jand and air armaments. It is not the first time that the | United States has been invited to con- | sider the question of reducing its pu: !military, as distinguished from | naval, establishment. always been, and presumably will con- THE _EVENING STAR., WASHINGTON. D. C. MON THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. from him by Eckener in the Graf Zep- pelin. in trim, so why wait for light? and his pilot and his mascot dog went aboard, the propeller was whiried, the engine roared, and they were off, while the stars looked down upon the fuss and perhaps blinked in amusement at The plane shot | the performance. ahead, ran down the course, and then ran off it into the rough of the side area, and after a great bumping and ripping | and crashing it came to a stop, a com- plete wreck. Mears and Brown got out, unharmed, but the dog disappeared and fat latest accounts had not been found. | Perhaps the pup concluded that the fiying life was not for him and went; away from there &s an insurance Our reply has !against future enterprise of the .ame kind. So ended John Henry Mears’ | tinue to be, that the American Army |latest endeavor—that is, for the pres- is already of skeletonic dimensions. | There is hardly a second-class power in Europe which does not keep more {men under arms than we do. The military force of the Republic is a poiice force, pure and simple. It is widely scattergd—throughout corps areas in the “Continental” States, in th> Canal Zone, in the Hawaiian Islands, in the Philippines and elsewhere. We could hardly “limit” our Army further without dis- banding it. ‘With military and naval strategists coming mcre, and more and rather reluctantly, to concede that the air- plane is the offensive and defensive weapon of the future, it is probable that any serious effort to restrict it, with fleets and armies already limited, would meet with resistance. But, in the abstract, it is not likely that the United States would abstain from a readiness to consider any practical scheme . to keep air armaments at a minimum level, “They cannot go too low to suit us,” said President Hoover on the eve of the London Conference in reference to the other powers' naval limitation plans. If a general reduction of air ..Tce were ever to be projected, it would be debatable from this country’s stand- point. But any scheme that would be acceptable would have to insure us a defense in the sky commensurate at all points and at all times with our wide needs. The land that produced the Wrights and Glenn Curtis would ask no more, or be content with less. ———r— ‘Who Leads the Chinese Reds? In the dispatches from China telling of the uprising of the Communists of the South against the Nanking govern- ment evidences appear that point to the maintenance of some degree of mili- tary order in the movements in Hunan, Kiangsi and Eastern Hupeh. The at- that important industrial city, with its large silk mills, was marked by an ap- parent purpose to secure funds and to destroy a source of revenue for the Na- tionalists. Since then the Communist swarms have operated in two such dis- tinct directions that a definite military plan is indicated. The purpose ap- parently is to cut off Hankow from Nanking, with the neighbor cities of Hanyang and Wuchang—the three are virtually one city, belng separated by the Yangtse and the Han—and also to capture Kiukiang, which lies about 120 miles to the southeast, down the Yangtse. These objectives are seemingly part of a general plan to approach and possibly to capture Nanking, the seat of the Nationalist government, which lies a little more than 200 miles down the Yangtse from Kiukiang. In these more or less orderly move- ments there is a hint at something more than mere Chinese Communist direction. In the first place, the red bands that form the body of the fight- ing forces in the field are all irregulars, volunteers, bandits and deserters from the Nationalist armies. If left to them- selves they would acknowledge no lead- ership beyond that which provided the “chow” and the ammunition. Such leadership, however, is not lacking. Hints have been given in the dispatches of the presence of Borodin, the er: while “military adviser” of the Natioa- alist government who was dismissed and all but executed by Chiang Kai- shek. This Russian agent of the So- viet government at Moscow, in the course of his several months of con- nection with the Kuomintang govern- ment of China, succeeded in establish- ing a number of Communist centers in the Southern provinces. These cen- ters have now sprouted their baleful crop of radicals, who have taken the field. Borodin was driven out of China —or at least out of the range of the Nationalist government—some time ago. His wite was under arrest in Peking for & while and barely ucuped execution as a spy. That Borodin nas returned to the field of his former ac- tivities and is now acting not merely as military adviser, bat as virtual com- mander, of the Communist forces is suspected. It is not an unlikely hy- pothesis. Moscow would be greatly pleased to aid in the overthrow of the Nationalist government of China by Communists. It is this possibility that is said to concern the Northern coalition of insur- gents against the Nanking govern- ment, even while it is in the thick of its fight to win Shantung from the Na- tionalists. For if the Moscow-inspired —if not actually Moscow-led—Com- munists succeed in overthrowing Na- tionalist authority in the South they are quite likely to continue their cam- paign northward, in which case Yen Hsi-shan, Feng Yu-hsiang and Wang Ching-wei, the Northern triumvirate now engaged in organizing a new gov- ernment ;at Peking, would have an- other war on their hands. ————— Now New Zealand boosts her tariff. Is there no mercy or pity anywhere for poor old Uncle Samuel? — e eaee Haste Made Waste for Mears. | Undue haste in seiting oil on his | proposed air journey around the world by plane caused the collapse of John Henry Mears' second project of this character yesterdsy morning. He was all set for the start at Harbor Grace. The plane was perfectly. tuned; gaso- { ine was sboard;. everything was in {shape. “Let's go,” sald Mears, to his pilot, Henry Brown. Those who knew the local field advised against so early a start, before the dawn, when the course was dimmed in darkness. But Mears would not wait. He was on his way around Lhe world, to set a new | | | | | y2cord, to regain the triumph of the to trcubles is United | tack upon Changsha and the looting of | I ent. is likely to try again. hopelessly wrecked, and he must pro- vide a new one. But it is dollars to doughnuts that he will be out there again with a fresh equipment, perhaps a new mascot—the sealyham that fled was not so much of a lucky bit, it would seem—and he will probably jn such case heed the advice of the wise ones to wait for the dawn. — b Philatelists are puzzled over a strange coin, just discovered, which is abso- lutely smooth on both sides, without mark of any kind. The Arkansas Ga- zette pithily remarks, “They cannot make heads or tails of it.” Only one thing is definitely known—if it got tnat way by wear, it is not ancient Scottish; they are not passed around fast enough in the Land of Cakes. R The companles which make china mugs certainly play it both ways and must be cording up money. Few fore- fingers can penetrate the average han- dle, and think of the clay saved there. If by chance one does, it has such difficulty in extricating itself that the breakage is something tremendous. S S R ) R Historians now declare that the Pu- ritans founded Boston simply because is was a good place to get a clear, cold, pure drink of water, and for no other reason. One reason is as good as an- other for a perpetual’ base ball tail- ender. e A single shot kills the twenty-foot escaped python which had kept vaca- tionists housebound up near Rochester for a week. That fellow should be given a fleld gun and stationed along the coast somewhere to plunk the sea serpent. e A recent headline states that thirty gamblers, stampeded by detectives, ran through a closed door and escaped. But it does seem as if they simply must have opened it first. SRR S S Chicago gangsters’ idea of gallantry does not preclude shooting an enemy when he is driving with his wife, but they chivalrously, out of respect to the lady, shoot him in the legs only. —r——— Britain is said to be suffering from “the blues,” according to a doleful dis- patch from London. Far better “the blues” than “the reds.” e Now chemists plan to make breakfast food from whisky mash. Who remem- bers “Sunny Jim"? More time for the pedestrian in traffic light switches means more time for him here on earth. — e SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. A Career. He started in in early life ‘To do the best he could, Avoiding all unnecessary strife And trying to be good. And though sometimes without avail He sought the narrow way, In one thing he would never ff He always drew his pay. ‘When others shouted for reform, And enmities aroused, He still remembered he was warm And comfortably housed. He said, “Let others fill the land With protest and dismay; * I'll do the duty that's at hand— I'll bravely draw my pay.” And when promotions came along He wasn't left behind. They said that he was of the strong And ever-steady kind. “Do just one thing, and do it well,” I've often heard him say. He was consistent, truth to tell— He simply drew his pay. ‘Unenthusiastic. “Are you going to entertain next Winter?” “No,” answered Mr. Cumrox. “We are going to keep on inviting a lot o' people to the house. But I don't expect that they’ll be any more entertained than usual.” Preparation. “Is your son Josh going back to col- lege?” “Yes," answered Farmer Corntossel, “I'm going to give him another term. He ain't athletic enough yet to do a ful]l day’'s work in harvest time.” Compensation. When censure has unjustly raised Its voice, don't quit the fight; Some day, perhaps, you will be praised With quite as little right. Fame. “Is that Government officlal going to retire to private life?” “No. He has accepted the manage- ment of & big corporation, so_that he can be more prominent in the public eye.” Locating the Frenzy, “What is frenzied finance?” “Frenzied finance,” replied the Wall Street man, “is a condition of affairs 1m which small investors lose their baads while we remain perfectly self-possessed and take the money.” A Great Saving, Always think before you speak. 1If this you will recall You'll very oft discover that You needn't speek at all. “One reason why troubles don't come singly,” said Uncle Eben, “i dat de foolishness dat fus' interduces & man lizble to a?ghmnlc," The weather was right, all was He Mears is a persistent person and | His plane is|5¢ ! The unending battle between opti- | mism and pessimism is nothing new. 1 As e as 1841 Emerson wrote in his journ: do not bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good.” To be pessimistic is, in fact, to in- |, dulge in rejection; it involves a choice {'between several things, some of which one finds good, some bad. practice_true optimism, such as Ralph | Waldo Emerson practiced, without re- Jjecting much that one does not like. The power of discrimination must be brought into play before one can claim | to be either optimist or pessimist. As a | matter of fact, all meh are both. | There is no such thing as & hard-and- fast optimist, although some men, by much talking, attempt to set them- Ives up as such. There is no such person as a universal pessimist. 3 The term ‘means nothing, except to mirror the opinion of some one against some one else. | ‘The dyed-in-the-wool optimist likes to call the who disagrees with him a “pessimist,” thereby testifying to all and sundry that he has a bit of the same quality himself. * X o K The cult of the optimist, as such, is dying quietly in the land, as people everywhere are coming to see that per- haps the most good is done, in the end, by the imists. To shout the glories of one's self, one's State, city. land is all very well, but it leaves a great deal unsaid—except by those who visit America and go back home to “write us up.” 'he valuable cult of the pessimist, too, is going out of style. The trouble with the professional pessimist, as with his brother, the incurable’ optimist, is that they are so one-sided. Every one realizes that in time. ‘The reader gets no true picture of life from either, but a distorted repre- sentation as lop-sided as & human mind can make anything when it goes off af a tangent. ‘Thus we find that both our popular handy men fall down on us. The timist fools us on ome hand, and the pessitpist on the other. It s only in our own minds that we can get at any fair picture of what-is- what and who-is-who. % o A ‘The main thesis of Emerson, that one should not waste himself in rejec- tion, may be accepted gratefully as a wise bit of direction from a true mas- ter mind. Emerson was peculiarly able to stand up to direct the Ameri- can people, because his peculiar com- bination of mental qualities enabled him to furnish them with what they s0_often lacked. He possessed xnm!thm% of their hurry and bustle along with the calm- ness of the Eastern temperament. “Do not waste yourself in rejection,” he said, and he meant it then, when he wrote it—and he means it today. Rejection may be spelled today: “Criticism.” A little learning has been, indeed, a dangerous thing for thousands of persons, as they have aspired to set themselves up as critics of every branch of art and living. line of endeavor immediately set them- selves up as critics in others, and at- tempt to tell the whole world what they should do and how they should do it. | 1t is difficult to see how any one can | Thus men who succeed largely in one | private life, so that one cannot do so simple a thing wash one's face with- out having some member of the family | inquire why you do not do it some other “Do not waste yourself in rejection; | way. * % B * As to the injunction “Do not bark ; bad, but chant the beauty . one- cannot feel 8o sure. position of the individual must against the of the ‘Ths dis) decide. Some are good chanters, others good | barkers. Chanters should chant, barkers should k. As long as a man is true to charac- ter he should be accepted thankfully. ‘We submit that the tendency of this age to try to mold every one to a stand- ard is all wrong, not only from the standpoint of the State, but more from that of every individual, Perhaps they had it better arranged in the,cld-time country village, where every man stood on his own feet and vl:r.ilked under the shadow of his own hat im. Every man's peculiarities were his own and were as much a part of him as what he did for a living and how he treated his wife, where he lived and when he went fishing. The tendency of the city, and of its reflection everywhere, is to iron human beings out into a spiritless uniformity, which is nothing more nor less than the mob spirit in individual operation. The herd mind operates, as one might suspect it would, in other ways than in mob scenes of desperate character. Many of the traits we prize ourselves on nothing more nor less than effects of the mass mind in private operation. ‘We take our direction from the many- headed monster, All-of-Us, and then wonder why we are unhappy, when all the time we might find peace of mind, for which the living world seeks, if we would remain true to our own self: Al e Each person must decide for himself where he stands in the universal sepa- ration between those who chant and , those who bark. There is no use trying to make your- self over, either to please Emerson or anybody else. There is just one person you should please, and that is yourself, and as long as ycu please -him you are going along the right track. If that track does noi coincide with the plai# demands of justice, decency, the rights of others, somebody surely will throw a monkeywrench into your machinery, sconer or later, and you will end in a great wreck. Perhaps a better way to state it would be to say “Be yourself,” rather than “Please yoursels." Being one's self in- volves a great deal more than pleasing yourself, undoubtedly, for often a solemn recognition of one's self carries no pleasure with it, yet at the same time the observer realizes that he must be true to those far-flung voices, in which his ancestors whisper to him down the countless years. The “voice of the people is the voice of God——" so went the old saying. It peinted back along the ancestor track and meant nothing more than that the Great Ultimate speaks when the well of ancestors comes forth in the living words of men. Then it is'seen that to be an optimist or a pessimist is nothing, but that to say the truth, as one sees it, is all. Let the foolish and shallow label it “optimism” or “pessimism’” The thing would be laughable if it were not serlous. The same attitude | gets dtself introduced in all walks of | News dispatches from the President's camp on the Rapidan disclose that le-: saw puzzles are Mr. Hoover's favorite | diversion at his week end retreat in the Virginia hills. Over them he and| his guests are accustomed to plod for | hours at a time, until they succeed in | plecing together a picturesque mosaic which covers a whole table top. Com- pleting a perfect mosaic is not only one of Herbert Hoover’s camp hobbies, but part and parcel of his political concept. To convert the United States Tariff Commission and Federal Power Com- present-hour tribulations— which will typify and em- brace every sectional, political and economic equation involved is the goal at which the President is aiming. Early in his White House days, & famous Re- publican politician who failed to “make” the cabinet remonstrated with Hoover about the oversight. The “‘Chief” isald he hoped some day to utilize his disgruntled visitor's services, but that it hadn't been found possible to fit him into the cabinet “mosaic” the Presi- dent was intent upon piecing together. Hoover apparently envisages the whole Federal patronage structure as a glori- fied jig-saw puzzle, and means to keep his hand in while resting on the Rapidan, *x Col. Amos W. Woodcock's school for prohibiticn agents, from which the new enforcement ~director hopes to te successive classes of men who e their brains instead of their brawn.” says he really is a schoolmaster himself by origin and predilection. He started out as a tutor at St. John's College, Annapolis, and intended to fol- low the pedagogic career. Then the law diverted him, but he confesses that teaching is his forte and hobby. Mabel Walker Willebrandt once said that the | average American expects the Federal | director of prohibition, whoever he may be, to be a combination of Sherlock Holmes, Carrie Nation and Bishop Can- non. Col. Woodcock s a scholar, a lawyer, a yachtsman, a soldier and a bookworm. ~ Collecting first editions of modern English dramatists is one of his foibles, * ok XX If the Socialists of the seventeenth Manhattan district, New York, h their way, the Congress of the States a year hence will contain its first newspaper columnist. Heywood Broun has been asked to make the race in that fashionable division of the metropolis against the incumbent Republican Congresswoman, Mrs. Ruth Pratt. Broun has formally accepted the So- clalist nomination and says he will Wi a serious campaign for election. .;.g: seventeenth is a hlue-stocking district, I'm told,” said Broun, ‘“but there's plenty of rayon still in it.” The Brooklynite who drawls over the radio like a Southerner has designated un- employment as the paramount plank in his platform. . He purposes pillorying Hoover and “Jimmie” Walker as the two men mainly responsible for jobless- ness. * KoK K / Robert Peet Skinner, American min- ister to Greece, rises to correct a world- wide misapprehension with reference to golf. “Most people” he says, “im- agine that golf came fo us from Scot- Jand. As & matter of fact, the Scots got it from Holland—probably for noth- ing. But innumerable centuries before that, the ancient Greeks apparently were playing something of the same sort of @ game in Athens itself. In ‘Athenian Museum stands a pedestal, which dates, 1 think, from a thousand years before Christ, revealing two layers with clubs very like golf sticks, eaning over a small ball, with two spectators looking on. We have a rep- lz.lc of that picture, in plaster over mantel in our own golf club st Ati Between the Aegean Sea and Mount Hymettus.” Perhaps the new American Institute of Archeology in Greece may discover who the Bobby Jones of Plato's era was. x % ok ok Senator Robert F. Wagner, Democrat. of New York, is the latest congressional pilgrim to sail for Europe. He will re- i visit his native German land, whence he emigrated to the United States as they will, he who stands in the shadow ®f the ages knows it for something greater—the Truth as He Sees It. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. few—newcomers to the United States Senate in recent years, who have dily made places for themselves on ‘apitol Hill He now commands genuine respect there. His construc- tive leadership in the field of unem- ployment has just borne fruit in the shape of the presidential plan to effect & more reliable scheme of tabulating Jobless conditionrs. Senator Wagner's speech in the Senate, closing the re- cent debate in favor of ratifying the naval treaty, was regarded on all hands as one of the real contributions to the discussion. “Bob” Wagner is a “Tam- many judge” who has made good “at ‘Washington. L Somebody asked Sir Ronald Lindsay, nt British Ambassador, whether he s learned his way about- the mam- moth new embassy establishment of King George in Washington. _ *Yes,” he replied, “but I haven't found out yet where to turn off the electric light.” L Col. Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of State, is in the midst of a fishing holi- day in the Quebec woods. if the Canadian trout keep on biting, Stimson will stay there till the middle of this month, and then wind up his month’s vacation at his American Summer place, the Au Sable Club, St. Hubert's, N. Y. With the London naval treaty ratified, the State Department has a fairly clean slate, although Soviet Russia, like the poor, is with us always. (Copyright, 1930.) o Car Track in the South- east Cited as Nuisance ‘To the Editor of The Star: In a recent issue of The Star a Mr. Stottlemeyer gave utterance of a gen- eral’and well founded indignation of the general public toward recent de- velopments of the street-car token muddle, In a later issue a Mr. Hutch- inson—evidently an employe of the street railway—sarcastically attempts to belittle Mr. Stottlemeyer's well founded criticism. Mr. Hutchinson's article would not 1 be worthy of any notice were it not for the next to the last paragraph, in which he says “If you have any legitimate complaint to make why not make it to the street car companies? I've heard that !hey are very fair-minded in all matters.’ Let me say to Mr. Hulchinson that through the Citizens' Associations of ‘Washington complaint has been made time and time in to both the street car companies and District Commis- sioners of the wretched and deplorable service rendered bysthe street car com- panies. No effort has ever been made o rectify or improve the service. For example, take that part of the street rallway on Pennsylvania avenue southeast east of Eighth street. Every Jjoint—notice I say every joint, not ex- cepting one—is a low joint and some of them are more than that. The track has been in that condition for The majority of cars that occasionall; ramble down that way have flat wheels and make more noise than an empty freight,_train trying to make up lost time, People have to wait from 5 to 10 minutes for a car. Many times it will be so crowded that you cannot get on and you will have to wait for an- other. . I have on several times have had to wait for the third car. A Sum- mer car is a thing unknown on that line. There are no waiting rooms nor comfort stations. These things and other items of neglect have been called to_the attention of the “fair-minded” officers of the street car companies and not one thing has been done to correct the complaints. t me again say to Mr. Lef Huf that the street railway on Pennsyivania avenue southeast is an Gove: nuisance, d shame to the City of Wash. ington. brains of the-management should be bored for the simples. C. G. DEGMAN. o And Appoint a Commission. From the St. Louls Times. ‘The President on his trip in the child, -and also dash into Russia for a close-up of the Soviet in action. Wagner is one of the few—the very ‘West will spend some time at Medicine Lake. He may cqme across the gov- ernmental panace3 as | news was flashed from Texas the other DAY, AUGUST 4, 1930. The Political Mill By G. Gould Lincoln. After keeping in the background po- lNtically for nearly two years, former Gov. Alfred E. Smith of New York is about to become active again, if the reports from New York are accurate. No claim is made yet that he is to be & candidate for the presidential nomi- nation of his party in 1932. But Al Smith is a dynamic personality. He has been a leader for years, and, as his friends point out, he received upward ©of 15,000,000 votes in the 1928 election, a greater number of votes than any other Democratic candidate for Presi- dent ever received. And if Gov. Smith gets back into the old game of politics there are thousands of his friends who will begin a demand that he be again a rcnndldlte for Chief Executive. six ‘The return of Gov. Smith to the flel of active politics is to be staged, it is sald, at the next Democratic convention in New York State this Fall. The con- vention meets at Syracuse September 29 and 30. It is not difficult to guess that Delegate Smith will cut quite a swath in the convention. He has already been listed as a Tammany delegate from the tenth assembly dis- trict, the district in which he lives. His activities this Fall are to be devoted largely to aiding in the renomination and re-election of his friend, Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt. He may make & speech or two for the Democratic Na- tional Committee. Indeed, it has already been reported that he make one speech for the Democratic ticket in Massachiisetts, where the Democrats are hoping to win a United States Senatorship and elect many of the members of the House. His first effort, it is said, however, will be for Franklin Roosevelt, whom a great many people have already picked as the next stand- ard bearer of the Democratic national party. * K K % Gov. Roosevelt in order to be nomi- hated for President in 1932 must win the governorship of the Empire State again this Fall. A defeat now would likely put him out of the running. He already has the handicap of having been the unsuccessful Democratic can- didate for Vice President as a running mate for “Jimmy" Cox of Ohio in 1920. The Republicans, however, up to date show no signs of being able to wrest the governorship from Mr. Roosevelt in November. If Al Smith throws his support in the 1932 Democratic na- tional convention to Roosevelt it is dif- ficult to see how Roosevelt can fail to win the nomination. Gov. Smith’s fol- lowers are almost fanatical in their support of the former Governor. It may even be difficult to persuade them to vote for another New Yorker for the presidential nomination. ? * ok ok ‘There is not the slightest doubt that the Democratic supporters of Smith have viewed with a great deal of satis- faction the drubbings to which anti- Smith Democratic leaders have been treated in the States of the South last year and this. In spite of the fact that soon after the last presidential election some of the Democrats of the South raised a demand for John J. Raskob, Smith’s personal friehd, to take himself out of the picture by resigning the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee on the ground that Raskob was a “wet” and a thorn in the side of the party in the South, Mr. Raskob has stuck on. And when the day that Representative Box, who while Democratic whip of the House a year ago demanded the -resignation of Rackob, had been defeated for renomi- nation, it gave the organization leaders quite a thrill. Josephus Daniels, former Secretary of the Navy under Woodrow ‘Wilson and now publisher of the Raleigh News and Observer, is another of those Democrats who e publicly demanded that Raskob resign in the interests of party harmony. Mr. Daniels has not sought any office at the hands of the voters, however, and he has not been chastized for thus daring. If “Tom” Heflin is defeated in Alabama next November, what a shout is likely to go up from the regulars who supported Smith in 1928 and who are insisti upon the retention of Mr. Raskob! Heflin should be defeated for the Sehate, it is now suggested in some quarters that he might become imperial wizard of the Klan. e ‘There is, of course, the reverse side of these victories of the regular Demo- cratic candidates for office in North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, etc. They emphasize the fact that the Democrats can win when Smith is not on the ticket in those States. ‘The Democrats will watch with keen interest to see what Gov. Roosevelt and the Democratic State Convention of New York have to say about the liquor question. It is generally taken for granted that Roosevelt will be wet encugh to suit Gov. Smith and the other opponents of national prohibition in the party. * o % The wets among the Republicans of New York have been raising a lot of noise in the last eight montl ‘Their State convention promises to be a fine row over the liquor question. Both sides are proclaiming confidence in the out- come. The drys have been too strong for the wets generally speaking in past Republican conventions. Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, battler for years against prohibition, is likely to be a leader in the fight to have the Republican con- vention go on record as favoring repeal or modification of the dry laws. Former Senator Wadsworth, active in the wet leadership, and Gen. James G. Harbord are expected to have their parts in the struggle, while State Chairman William J. Maler and the dry wing of the party which supported President Hoover heartily in 1928 will be in opposition. The latter are seeking to prevent any mention of prohibition in the party platform. If they win, it will be som what of a compromise, for the fs natical drys wish a plank in the plat- form declaring for prohibition and its enforcement. The wets, on the other hand, are clamoring for a distinctly wet plank, Heiyn Four States hold party primary elec- tions tomorrow. They are Kansas, Mis- souri, Virginia and West Virginia. Two days later come the primaries in Ten- nessee, and then on August 12 Alabama, Arkansas, Nebraska and Ohio. OQut on the Kansas prairies it locks as though Henry Allen, now serving as Senator under appointment, would win the Re- publican nomination. The opposition to him is split three ways. x % % % ‘The Tennessee primary promises to give Senator Brock, Democrat, the nomination for the “short term,” the remainder of the unexpired term of the late Senator Tyson, which ends next March. He has opposition for the short term, but not very real. Repre- sentative Cordell Hull, on the other hand, who is running for the Demo- cratic nomination for the long term, is having some very real opposition from Andrew W, Todd, former presiding offi- cer of the State Senate. The general supposition, however, is that Mr. Hull will win the nomination. Mr. Hull has long been prominent in the Democratic party, both in his State and nationally. He served as chairman of the Demo- cratic National Committee for a time, and has served with distinction in the House: for many years. i * T ow The President's letter to B. Carroll | be hailed by 6p- ponents of the administration as a blow | at President Hoover, s Test for Sherlock Holmes. From the Detroit Pres Press. It would be pretty hard to_convince Sherlock Holmes that Mr. Doyle has returned from the spirit world. [ | (independent Democratic), ad ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. ‘This newspaper puts at your disposal 4 corps of trained researchers in Wash- ington who will answer questions for you. They have access to the Govern: ment departments, the libraries, mu- seums, galleries and public buildings, and to the numerous assoclations which maintain headquarters in the Nation's Capital. If they can be of assistance to you, write your question plainly, and send with two eents in coin or stamps to The Washington Star Information Bureau, Prederic J. Haskin, director, ‘Washington, D. C. Q. What is Earl Carroll's real name? —T. E. A. This is the producer's real name. | He has never used a nom de theatre. | Q. Is the point at which Washington | crossed the Delaware marked in any way?—T. J. L. , A. There is a park on either side of the river above Trenton and a memorial bridge is contemplated. Q. How much does a baby actually sleep?—H. G. F. A A new-born infant may sleep as much as 24 hours out of the 24; at the age of 1 year this sleep period has dropped to 13% hours. Q. Please describe the rabbit punch.— ., C. A. Spalding on boxing says: “The rabbit punch is a chop usually de- livered with the right hand to the base of the skull or the back of the neck when the opposing boxer is bent over in | a clinch or when going down with a | blow® previously deliveréd. It is un- | fi:mune‘ unsightly and unsportsman- e. the Frawley law, but the present Ath- letic Commission cmitted to place it on the list of foul blows.” stamps?—E. S. A. In issuing a commemorative stamp the Post Office Department as far as is practical to do 50 uses the designs sub- mitted by the sponsorssof the event to be commemorated. Q. What causes a mirage of water in the desert?>—T. K. A. The layer of air next to the ground becomes heated, usually because the sun overheats the ground, and this heats the air next to it. This hot layer of air bends back the rays of ligi:t just as though it were a mirror, so i. re- flects the light of the sky just a: a water surface would. —_— Q. Where is the ice mine in Pean- sylvania?—L. W. A. There is a natural ice mine just outside of Coudersport, Pa. Q. Did some of the well known roads through the Appalachians have their origin in Indian trails?—D. L. G. A. A century after the first settle- ments were established it was evident that the future of the country depended upon overcoming the barrier of the Ap- palachian Mountains and the great forests which clothed them. New colonists pushed inland along the rivers and later struck into the mighty forests from the head of navigation. They followed the Indian trails which they found and these trails came into general use. Thus Nemacolin's path which Washington followed on his mis- | sion to the Prench (1754) was the fore- runner of Braddock's trail (1755) and (1768). The Warrior's path from the Shenandoah Valley through the Cum- berland Gap to the falls of the Ohio became Boone's wilderness road (1769) e, Ko, e S A uot rom Eflexmelopfl into the Great Gen Q. In what kind of a tub did Diogenes live?—8. N. A. It was a_vessel discardéd from the Temple of Cybele. It was a huge earthen jar that had been used for holding wine or oll for the sacrifices of the temple. It was large enough him to lie in at full length and to satisfy his limited demands in the way of housekeeping. Diogenes did not invent this mode of living, as the poor had many similar uses of such vessels before his time and did so afterward. - Q. Who sald that trifles make perfecs tion and that perfection is no trifie? L. . B. A. It is attributed to Michelangelo. Q. In planning a waterworks system what is the basis for figuring how much water is required for a city in propor- tion to the population?—F, M. A. Engineers do not agree upon this point, the estimates varying from 100 t0 150 gallons per day for each resident of the district to be supplied at the expiration of 20 years from thé inaugu- ration of the supply. The prospective population is estimated from the records of past growth of the district and the growth of districts of similar character. Q. Is_the Bible printed in every known language in the world>—T. P. A. The American Bible Society says 1t was barred in New York undertthat there are still many dialects into which the Scriptures have nct been translated, but they have been-trans- . | lated into more than 450 languages and Q. Who designs the commemorative | many tnousands of dialects. Q. Who made the first bronze statue in this country?—B. A. A. 1t is credited to Ball Hughes, It is & statue of Dr. Bowditch in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. Q. How far is it from Washington to Piney Point?—R. T. A. It is 82 miles. Q. Can a soldier who served in the Spanish-American War and who was disabled in the World War receive two pensions?—H. T. B. A. A pension may be drawn for serv- ice in only one war. A person entitled to a pension in two wars may select the pension which he desires to receive. Q. Please give some information about Josiah Wedgewood.—A. B. A. Jesiah Wedgewood was born on July 12, 1730. He was the youngest son of a potter and came of a family of which members had been netable pot- ters in Staffordshire. Soon after the death of his father in 1739 he became skilled in the art of shaping pottery on the wheel. In 1753 he became manager of a small pottery. In 1759 he began work on his own account in the Ivy House Pottery at Burslem. Salt glaze and green and yellow glaze seem to have been his first staples. However, the fine white English earthenware was just reaching perfection and Wedgewood became one of its best known makers. He presented a service of his ware to Queen Charlotte in 1762.and was ap- pointed potter to the Queen and later to the King. He next turned his ate the national road. The Kittanning path up the Juniata to the Allegheny furnished the route of Forbe's trail | tention to artistic pottery and reprc- duced designs based on the later phasc; of Greek art. Because of facts brought out in the congressional lobby investigation, it is generally agreed in published comment that the retirement of Claudius H. Hus- ton from the chairmanship of the Re- publican National Committee is a logi- cal step. The selection of Senator Simeon D. Fess as successor, with Robert H. Lucas in an associate capac- ity, is discussed with recognition that the party organization will be perfected for future activities. “There is the question of the seem- liness of Mr. Huston's activities as a lobby agent while holding the chair- manship of the Republican committee,” says the Buffalo Evening News (Repub- lican), “* * * the more so since threse activitles had to do with Muscle Shoals. The disposition of the Government power and nitrate plants on the Ten- nessee River is a subject of sharp con- troversy between the Senate and the House. The recent session saw the two bodies at odds regarding the policy to be adopted for Muscle Bhoals. Consider- ing all the circumstances, Mr. Huston does well to withdraw from the chair- manship.” The-News thinks that “the selection of Senator Fess as the new chairman will not be gratifying to the insurgent element, since he is a close representative of the Hoover policies on the tariff, farm relief and other sub- jects,” but that paper adds that “the insurgents hardly could expect to be conceded much influence in party leadership.” It describes Senator Fess as “‘one of the scholars in politics.” “Huston insists that his hands are clean. What of it>” asks the Duluth Herald (independent Republican). “Is a great party to turn from its work to vindicate a person who is not even a candidate? Was it not his duty to keep clean from scandal? The party must do no man an injustice. But no man may rightly insist that the end and object of a party is to exist for his vin- dication.” . The Milwaukee Journal (in- dependent) comments: “The party di- rectors could defy Europe and all its entanglements; they could defy the farmer; they could defy the Western nators. But the great party bowed before the secret of Claudius Huston's power.” “Mr. Huston has been, from the Re- publican point of view,” according to the Chicago Daily News (independent), disconcertingly slow in accepting his hat from the hands of his anxious party | which has been holding it out to him | suggestively for so long a time. His de- cision to take his hat and go, like his White House interview, is satisfactory to all concerned except Democratic platform orators, who are threatened with the loss of & piquant theme.” The Providence Bulletin (independent) states: “He has looked upon 1t as a lost cause and wanted to go down with all moral banners fiying. He has ne down, but as for the banners fly- ing, well, that's something else again. The delay in his retirement is dis cussed by the Des Moines Tribune-Cap- ital (independent Republican) with the statement: “Shakespeare once wrote of a man slated for execution who kept all the authorities in turmoil because | he wouldn't consent to be executed. But the country wasn't America. ‘The age wasn't this century. wasn't Huston. And the pri thority wasn't Hoover.” The Louisville Times (independent) remarks that “the President’s savoir faire sets Mr. Huston down softly, without broken bones, at any rate with- out apparent fractures, outside of the camp of the party managers.” The Charleston Evening Post (independent Democratic) records that “the opera- tlon was successful. but the mlmz has t a_good The man incipal au- suffered a severe shock and deal of blood.” The Ann Arbor Daily News (independent) contends that “he could not have continued, even though perfectly innocent of any of the charges or insinual le at him. . His resignation warranted by an atti- tude that would threaten disruption to the party.” “He has had an unfortunate and stormy time during his brief tenure as chairman." the Roanoke 'n':n: a “doubtless he will be. secretly glad to get out of it, even Lhm}n e idea of retiring under fire from within | as well as without the party.” Simi- larly, the Manchester Union (independ- |A Piea fo! 'End of Huston Controversy _ Held Generally Benefici ai gone eonclusion. The réal Question in issue has been just when he wopl quit the job. He has had rather' tempestuous time of it, almost fror the day that he succeeded Dr. Hubert Work as head of the committee early in the Hoover administration. He has beén bitterly attacked by opponents of his party and there also has been criticism from fellow Republ.lmnshg an extent that clearly handicapped his pusefulness. With a campaign approach- ing and control of Congress at stake, it has been clear that party interests demanded a national chairman who was not the center of a bitter contro- versy.” “The seriousness of his acts,” in the judgment of the Chattanooga Times (independent Democratic), “is not les- sened by the fact that there are many who engage in similar acts. Never- theless, it may be said that Chatta- nooga is inclined to think of Claudius Huston as it knew him when he lived here, rather than as_ the discre chairman of the Republican party. It remembers his public-spiritedness, enthusiasm and his labors for the up- building of this city and section. And if Mr. Huston should decide to returm to his old home and devote his splen- did energy and talents to the further development of Chattan and the Tennessee Valley, he will his old friends in his old home town ready to welcome him.” As the present situation is viewed by the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (in- dependent Republican): “With Senator Fess ‘doing the honors’ as chairman of the Republican National Committee and Robert H. Lucas doing the work in the newly created post of chairman of the Executive Committee, and Wal- ter F. Brown of Ohio unobtrusively at the controls, the Republican party’s national organization is being well equip- ped for active service. Its immediate responsibility has do with the con- gressional and senatorial campaigns for the November election. But the re- organiaztion is looking ahead. The new command is_whole-heartedly in sym- pathy with President Hoover and his policies. It will lack nothing necessary td a complete and active organization throughout the country.” ‘The Chicago Daily Tribune (Repub- lican) offers this estimate of the new chairman: “Mr. Fess is such a stampipg crusader as could walk 1) miles on s and never crack a shell. This litant progressive could jump from daisy to daisy across a meadow and Jeave each stem unbowed. Under his chairmanship the national ccmmittee will meet the public questions of the country with a loud whisper of yes and no.” o r the Boy Who Dug the Pool To the Editor of The Star We are glad you are a champion of the boy and his swimming pool. Parents and teachers spend the best years of their lives trying to develop the germ of initiative and self-reliance in boys and girls, and lo! when the children begin to demonstrate their ability up comes the law and says “Stop Tt It seems to us that the Russian boy has exhibited industry, ingenuity, busi- ness acumen and the ability to get along with his young neighbors. All marks f the good citizen. Shall we nip these ?n the bud and make a loafer or a Commumist of this lad? Let us be reasonable and appreciative. Of courte, we do not want our boys to break a law. He weas probably ignorant of the law concerning licenses. Lef 2 compared the tion pool let license fee be not more than a dollar. Ccme on scoutmaster, minister, some boys' friend and help this Russian boy to realize that this is the land ef op- portunity for all good citizens. A. M. GARDNER. ————————— Question of Accuracy. From the Florence (Als) Herald, ent Republican) states: “The retire ment of the chairman has been a fore- excl of a mnew-born baby that wei 23 pounds—on the iceman’s + 8 5