Evening Star Newspaper, August 5, 1930, Page 8

A-8 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday fl Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY.......August 5, 1830 THEODORE W. NOYES. . ..Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company 11tn st "and Pennsviiania Ave R TR New Vork Ofce: 110 4and 8t Office ke Michigan Building. n Office. Rn?““ St.. London. Rate by Carrier Within the City. \'ahllnl -5'.;(' e rer month ERIRE and Sunday hen ‘ni\lndlyll ... .... 60¢ per month Evening and Sunday’ Siar Uwhen 8 fundass) ... 8¢ per month (R day Sc per copy Collection made a the «nd of »ach mont rders may be sent in by mail or .elephone RatienaT Yoob: Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. 13r.$10.00: 1 mo.. 85¢ I'1yr. $6.00. 1 mo.. 30c 1yr, 34.00: 1mo., 40c All Other States and Canada. y and Sunday .1yr.$1260:1mo.. $1.00 only ... 'lyr, $8.00° Imo. 75c oy only ..L....1yr. $300: 1mo. S50c Member of the Associated Press. 8 Associated Press is exclusively entitled ‘°ub'u“:'n!fif JTepublication of ail news cis- 2 ted in_thi ul et special dispat or not otherwise cred- per and also s All rights of public hes herein are also reserved. The Drought Calamity. ‘Though the farmers of the country do not quite go the length of, charging up the lack of rain to the Hoover ad- ministration, alodg with the carried the drought to the door of thc ‘White House and urged Federal reme- dial measures. Unless Jupiter Pluvius bestows his liquid Blessings upon the arid land within thirty days, L. J. Taber, ‘veteran master of the Grange, prophe- sies a national agricultural crisis of calamitous dimensions. The Grange does not crave the Presi- dent’s intercession with Providence for an unleashing of the irrigating elements, but it does pray that the Government may see fit to Institute a number of mitigating regulations. Among thest are preferential freight rates for moving cattle out of areas where pasturage fa- cilities have dried up, and transporting hay and feed. More favorable credit conditions for distressed farmers at the hands of rural banks are also asked. ‘There is no disguising the seriousness of the country's waterless plight. The ~Middle West seems the hardest hit. Prairie and forest fires are feeding on terrain which has not felt the caressing drench of rainfall in weeks on end. Brooks, lakes and rivers are receding from their banks, throwing up a dan- gerous flotsam of dead or dying fish, with ugly possibilities of insanitary con- sequences for adjacent communities of residents. Crops of all kinds are threat- 2ned with ruin—perhaps Mother Nature, _who appears to have gone hopelessly ary, has chosen this way of doing her bit to assist the Federal Farm Board to curtail production of wheat. Not the least arresting apd significant fea- ture of the almost uffprecedented state of affairs on the farms is the news that #soll-tillers, who haye never before turn- ed an artisan’s wheel or known the ennui of counter-jumping, are looking for jobs in industry and business, their own oc- cupation having, along with their crops, been blighted by the drought. Just how effectively emergency ac- tion ai Washington can meet conditions 1 not clear at this hour. Farm relief in its day has had many facets, and weird panaceas have been sought—and invoked—in its worthy name. To defy drought is the very latest thing under the merciless sun, If Uncle Sam can cope with that, he is a wizard. ————ate—. The Arlington Dumps. Chiefly on complaint of the airport owners, Engineer Commissioner Got- ‘wals and the Arlington Board of County Supervisors have been exchanging cor- respondence on the subject of doing something about the trash dumps that now spread their noisome pall over the other side of the :_'er. The Arlington County Board is to take up the matter at its next meeting. Maj. Gotwals has an ides that by obtaining use of some scows the city trash might be taken to some point far down the river and dumped in some marsh or creek ‘where it would not add to the river's pollution nor become a nuisance. If this were done, however, the Arlington County authorities would have to co- . Operate by ordering the dumps aban- doned end forbidding their use by everybody. As it is now the munie- ipality is only one of the users of the dumps. ©Of course, the dumps should have been abandoned long ago, for they are an eyesore ahd & nuisance. It is un- thinkable that they should be continued after completion of the Arlington Bridge and the Mount Vernon Boulevard, and as far as the District is concerned two trash incinerators to dispose of municipal trash will probably be in operation by next Summer, thus ending . the municipality’s use of the dumps. In the meantime, Maj. Gotwals' plan for { disposing of Washington's trash by tak- ing it downriver might hasten the time when the Arlington dumps can be per- manently closed. It is to be presumed, of course, that dumping trash down the river would not create another evil by pollution or by making the lower reaches of the stream unsightly from floating refuse. - A Glasgow University professor says the United States is changing the tempo ‘of the world. Yes, and largely with memos. Wasted Hours. A Washington youth has just come back to earth after having maintainsd 8 seat in a tree continuously for two , hundred and eighty-eight hours, or twelve days. He could have remain>d in the tree indefinitely, but he wanted to get some rest before going on the outing of an organization of which he is & member. There was, in fact, liitle or no reason why he could not have staved in the tree for a year, or two, or three or five years, or for all his lifetime, if somebody on the ground had continued to minister to his needs. ‘Tree sitting is not as fatiguing as pole T ositting, is safer and is caally gquite luxurious, in Summer. Winter tree sitting might not be quite as desirzble an occupation. Just what is gained by this per- formance it somewhat of a mystery. The act of remaining above ground in a tree, or on a pole, calls for no Dbatte ability, for no spesial sagac- fer no pariicular epirlt cr pluc tree sitter just goes uD‘ THE E\'ENIN('}_ . 5 platform, a chair, perhaps a bit af'fuiair s ommodations, promising ¥ g, bedding, and stays aloft, while the fo'y | *Vever, Lat his case would re Ave down below really do the work of su, | in/iedia nsideration. plying necessities. Much is heard of | But as the question failed to state the tree sitters, but little if anything|that ¢he scientist might have been a |is heard of the caterers who attend | tiresome old beetle collector; his wife to their needs. might have been a humdinger for looks, Out in Chicago recently two young | with or without social aspirations: the _STAR,_WASH? n of Futility. Aok | “publicity stunt.” slump, unemployment and other eco- | YPrSion: & "PUDICHY stum’. romic woes, the National Grange has | men maintained an endurance flight in an afrplane for twenty-three days. They could not have done this without the ‘assistance of their two brothers, who kept the endurance plane refueled by means of hundreds of “contacts.” Nor could they have carried on but for the aid of their mother and sister, {who prepared their food 'and sent it {aloft by the, refueling plane. The whole femily worked together, and "> gas suppliers and the food prov: lcame in for their fitting amount | publicity. * This plane endurance flight, idle though it may have appeared to some, was in truth an important demonstra- tion of the curability of a “flying ma- chine.” It was A test of both me- chanical and human endurance, and, therefore, a contribution to the ad vancement of aviation as a practical Just so a flight. started soon after the Hun o brothers descended by the two ycung men who had held the | previous record, broken by the Hunters, | and even now continuing, is designed | to broaden knowledge, of aircraft and | to advance aviation. Tree sitting is a purely personal di- Endurance | fiying. though it may result in fortune |as well as fame to its participants, has | a practical value. The tree-sitting youth may mow realize that the two hundred and eighty-eight hours he spent in the tree were in Teality wasted hours, even though they might not have been spent in more profitable occupa- tion if he had remained on the ground. S ki Economy or Lack of Faith? While they are Navy ships, ostensibly built for the Navy's use in time of war, the two dirigibles to be constructed | by an Akron rubber company in reality | .opresent an effort by the United States to encourage foundation of & commer- | cial lighter-than-air industry in this country. One of these ships, the ZRS- 4, is expected to be ready sometime in May of 1931. Work on the other, the ZRS-5, has not begun. The news today indicates that the Navy Department is seriously consider- ing conceling the contract for con- struction of the ZRS-5, apparently in line with the Government's drive for economy and the saving of money already appropriated or authorized. Congress evidently had the same thought in mind during its considera- tion of the appropriations for the two dirigibles, as it inserted an amendment to give the Secretary of the Navy the authority that he would exercise in canceling the contract. Of the three powers that have fig- ured prominently in construction and use of lighter-than-air craft since the war, Germany, With its world-circling Graf Zeppelin, has, of course, led the way. England has just sent her R-100 across the ocean and is completing the R-101 as hex bid for fame. The United States, with its German-built Los An- geles, has done ‘virtually nothing in the Zeppelin field and its construction of the ships at Akron has been its’first serious effort to compete. ‘If the pro- gram for the building of the ZRS-4 and the ZRS-5 is curtailed now, the step will naturally be interpreted in many quarters as a disappointing lack of faith in the future of the Zeppelin as a practical instrument in war or com- merce. Serious doubt will be thrown on the prospect of developing a private industry in the United States that might later be expected to stand on its | feet if the Navy indicates its unwilling- ness to go on through with what it has started. If the lighter-than-air ship is to play the part in future commerce that has been so widely heralded by the! spectacular feats of the Graf Zeppelin | the United States would be penny wise | and pound foolish to halt its program of building these ships. The relative savings to be effected by building the two ships together would represent the real economy. But if the Zeppelin is | not to develop .nlme Navy has given ! up hope of its ever developing beyond the uses to which the Los Angeles, say, has been put, why build any more of the ships? Let Germany and Eng- land go ahead and do the experiment- ing while we save our dollars for bet- ter things. Halting construction of the ZRS-5 before it ever has been started might be done in the name of economy. But it would represent, more than anything else, a lack of faith in the airship either for military or for commercial | purposes. If the faith is there the two and a half millions that the ZRS-5 will cost would be spent without a mo-| ment's delay. i »—oes s of Saventy-five thousand New Yorkers { slept recently in Central Park in one| night during the prolonged hot, wave. The nfen who set aside this great tract back in the early days did a greater, thing even than they planned. They | aimed -at recreation and beauty, but they | gave the metropolis a veritable life- saver. 1 SRR | That Desert Island Question. The bright boy from Rhode Island| who won the Edison scholarship refused | 10 tell how he answered the desert island | question. But obviously there was only | one eorrect answer, “I don't know.”! | Anything else would be such a mixture of philosophy, so-called ethizs and con- jeeture founded on supposition that it written on One hopes, somehow. that | the same view was taken by the schol- arly jury of awards and that Aribur O. Williams, jr., said, "I don't know “Suppose that you, with a brilliant | 60-year-old scientist guides, the 39-yee. I sclentist, who has social aspiretions her 6-year-old son, your fixace: and your best friend, who has :howwn greal prom- on a desert island. There is enough food and water left to enable three peo- fple 10 get to the nearest civilizallon © * ¢ which would you chooso toslive and which to die?” | One can imagine some smirking little bounder saying that he would choose | |to save the sixiy-year-old scientist. the ' t friend and a sulde, and one may presume that others cent th~ hest friend, best girl and the child off in th~ hroat there must have been & heat —while onr hero turnsd ar 2zed tn the “siy-¥ lark of t for ! ise 1n the fleld of science, are stranded | | From the best friend might have been getting ' sweet on your best girl; the six-year-old boy might have been a terrific nuisance and bqth the guides weré six feet six inches tall, well muscled, short-tempered and averse to being left on desert is- lands, the possibilities for solving the questioh are so boundless that if young Mr. Arthur O. Williams tried to go into ! details, he can be counted out now as a_successor to Thomas A. Edison. Or can he? So many people go such a long way by answering silly ques ons. The only requirement is to answer :hem in a way that will make everybody say: “That is exactly what I think! He took the words out of my mouth!" e Edward J. Kenny, millionaire, gives up his brokerage business to serve as an honest-to-goodness deputy fire com- { missioner in Brooklyn at $7,000 a year. And, if the truth were known, there is many another rich and successful man who, if he could or dared, would do likewise, or run an engine, or sail a fuil-rigged ship, be &’ cowboy or a detective, The small boy in all men dies hard, and particularly in the case of those small boys who never miss answering an alarm s—e— scraps (wo cruisers, her whole navy, thus putting -her on a parity with Switzerland, Bolivia and Paraguay. This is in marked contrast to a thousand vears ago, when Danish warships were running in and out of every inlet in Europe. The ancient Vikings, wherever they are, would be sick at heart at this news. ———— Denmark A New York newspaper announces that a New Haven white man “who posed for the head of the Indian on the five-cent piece” has changed his vocation from art to plastic surgery. He will probably shortly hear from Chief Two-Guns-White-Calf on this matter. A M T United States automobile agencies in Spain have begun to reduce their per- sonnel and overhead expenses because of the new Spanish tariff, which prac- tically doubles duties on motor ecars. Just another one of those “old Spanish customs.” 1t is not much of a comfort to those now summering here that this season’s temperatures are partially due to the years 1818 and 1874. Apparently the evil that bad weather does lives long after it. _— I oinE “Paris Decrees Colors” runs a head- line anent new feminine styles. With all her sartorial authority the city on the Seine has but one hue she can call her own—Paris Green. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON, He comes a-singing in the night— A thing of terror; yet so small! "Tis useless to attempt to fight, And all in vain for help you ecall. He scorns 5o slight a thing as wealth, When his dread visits make you wince; His quest demands your rest and health— Of graft he is the very prince. He takes the public for his prey; And, not content with fattening, He leaves before he goes away Mementos that will smart and sting. He has been caught. But oftener far In safety he has fled and laughed, ‘To hear you curse your luckless star— He is the very prince of graft! A Liberal View. “Do you think that a politician is worse than other men?” “No,” answered Senator Sorghum. “He has more temptation; Grief of Genlus. “Your latest production was a poem worth reading,” said the flattering friend. “Yes,” answered the ambitious young author. “But, after seeing the check sent by the publisher, I have concluded that it wasn't worth writing.” Compensation. I had my life insured today. Examination I have stood; And though my cash may go astray, "Twas worth it all to have them say My health at present is so good. A Delicate Undertaking. “Do you admire frankness?” “Yes,” answered Miss Cayenne; “but 1 dislike unskillful attempts at it. It takes far more than the ordinary com- mand of language for a person to say preeisely what he means.” The Hitch. “So your wife has resigned from the society organized to demonstrate the superiority of woman.” “Yes,” answered Mr. Meekton. “There was some little dispute as to the presi- dency. They were entirely agreed as to the superiority of all women over men, but couldn’t allow any one woman to be superior to the rest.” Evanescence. Oh, hasten with the chunk of ice! Er: many moments o'er it fiit, Some blotting paper will suffice To carry all that's left of it. “A few men,” said Uncle Eben, “will give you advice ‘cause dey honestly want to help. An' a whole lot will do of yoh hard luck an’ puttin’ on airs.” e M e Turkey Leads Way. Prom the Omaha Evening World-Herald. * Americans needn’t be jealous that Turkey is getting wetter. America has had prohibition only a decade. Turkey “| has had it for 1,300 years. v —o— What Will Granddaughter Be? From the Grand Rapids Press. The old-time girl who was usually pensive now has & daughter who is expensive., oo Takes Advantage of Title. Prom the Duluth Merald. 1If the Prince of Wales were running for office, the disclosure that he plays the saxophone would be accepted mere- ly as a political canard. — e Nor Hope for It. til2 Rock Arkanias Demeerat. Plessed ave the poov, for they reed no: s over tne possibi'ity of o y cki“rm b < 1l would not be worth the paper it was it foh de satisfaction of remindin’ you | YSGTOY D. BLsE THIS AND THAT - BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. “Why does it always work -out this, way?” he asked, fumbling around in| A capacious file. kept at least 95 per cent of those documents, and now | the very one I want isn't there.” | ‘Why does it always work out that| ‘way, indeed! ‘The plain cussedness of inanimate things is responsible. It was Poe, Wi believe, who first mentioned the mat- | ter, in one of the queerest of his short | stories, “The Imp of the Perverse.” | ‘When one stands on the corner wait- | ing for a Mount Pleasant car, 10 Georgetown cars will come slong, but | if one wants to go to the section be- | tween the river and the creek, at least a dozen Mount Pleasant cars will wend | their way up the hill. ‘Whatever one throws away turns out to be exactly the thing one should have kept, in the light of subsequent requirements. The thing kept, one has no use for: what was discarded suddenly comes int> demand. Thousands of persons who threw away their stored copies of the Godey Lady Book came to wish they had kept them, as the col- ored prints of old fashions came .to have a vogue. * k% % Perhaps the only real remedy for this discouraging state of affairs is to | save everything. Grandmothers of the old day did, and all they got for their pains was the sneers of their descendants, who quickly cleared the carefully stored attics of the accumulations of the years. No one today. not even an efficiency expert, can save as systematically as the people of the older days. “They were a careful, even frugal, lot, mainly because they had to be. ‘The modern gospel of mass manu- facturing and buying was unknown, 80 that no one knew that a thing was to be purchased only to be out of date immediately. That line of reasoning had not become fashionable. 3 If a thing was worth buying and having, it was worth keeping until it wore out. Such was the old-fashioned doctrine of those unsophisticated days. ‘The result was an accumulation of | marble-top tables, secretaries, queer lit- | tle chalk birds with feather tails, books kept unread in high cases with tall glass doors. Even well-to-do people drank Ar- buckle’s coffee. Many & man of today can recall a grandmother who could make as good coffee with “Arbuckle’s” as any woman of 1930 can with any of the fancy brands. And the saving instinct of the gen- eration was aided by the pictures of birds and so on which came with each package. Or was it birds? We have forgotten, because we were no higher than the doorknob, if as high, and one has to be higher than a door- knch to remember anything. * % % Grandmaw (so she was called) had a big kitchen, with a covered well in one corner, against removing the lid of which one was warned repeatediy. And one would as soon have at tempted to lift the lid off hell as grasp the square, heavy board by its round topknot. Even to walk to that side of the| kitchen, where the coffee pot reposed in state on a shelf, was a hazardous performance. | The very ficors seemed to shake Andl quiver, as one skirted the dread hole. Upon 'occasion, as a very rare treat, one was permitted to look on while a bucket of water was drawn up. The chief use of such water was to make coffee. Grandmaw had a repu- Cindy, in the next house, sho baker of angel's food cake. Cindy was the hired girl, and had been with her family for 40 years. It was her family, in fact and in truth. It was said that she could use more eggs to an angel cake than any per- son in town, money, being the bankers. Bui when it came_$0 making :ood coffee, Grandmaw was acknowledged the peer. She knew nothing about the newfangled methods of drip coffee, per- colated coffee, coffee made in urns and fancy contraptions. Grandmaw boiled hers. And when we say boil, we mean boil. Our recollection is that she boiled it all day long. but perhaps we are wrong about that. Maybe it was just eight hours. * ko They liked their coffee “good and strong.” in those days. and that was the way they got it, when Grandmaw made it. Grandmaw could make a cup of coffee that sank. clear down to your toes. At least so the old-timers ‘say. It had plenty of taste. If there was any chicory In it. it made slightest bit of difference. As a matter of fact, don't the French say that chicory is an essential in- gredient of really good coffee, giving it a “tang” which is like onion in soup? But you are out of luck if you don't like onion, of course. Grandmaw had an outhouse, too, where they kept all sorts of intriguing things. (We hope none of our readers is_ offended because we fall to say randmother.” They didn't say “Grandmcther,” just like that, when we had one.) not the ‘There was_a_barrel of flour and a| big can of kerosene, with pump at- tached. It was a fine barrel of flour, and an equally nice can of kerosene. Their juxtaposition, however, was un- fortunate. Some small child conceived the bright idea of seeing if the oil would pump freely into the flour. It did. So easily, in fact, that it was no feat at all to empty the entire con- tents of the big oil can into the equally capacious flour barrel. ‘When the pumping was over, the re- sult was a mixture which neither Pills- bury nor the Standard Ofl would have recognized. * K And when Grandmdw's time came to go, when she was 94 years old, and her hair was still black, the neighbors came in to do what they could, and to see if they couldn’t grab a few of the priceless old quilts stored in the second story. It wasn't a real second floor, but a sort of half-story, a glorified attic, with one bed, stored articles, and stacks of old magazine: Grandmaw could hear the ladies sneaking up the old steps to look over the treasures and to try to decide on what things they would like to get, if shame and pride did not deter them. But she was too ill to say or do an; thing about it. of us will be, so what is the use of sa: ing things for others to carry away? Saving _is good, but too much saving If we must save old things, let us do it with a smile, and not set our hearts and minds too much upon them. What we will want, in all probability, will not be there, anyway. Saving is good, so long as it is thorough, but when the very thing one happens to want is not there, then the imp of the perverse has been at it again. Sometimes it seems as if he is al- ways at it. In such moments there 18 Mo recourse except, to the God of the Reasonable, who throws all away, to tation as & coffee brewer, just as Aunt -Highlightg 0 n the save all. Amen. Wide World Excerpts From Newspapers of Other Lands EEKLY SCOTSMAN, Edin- burgh.—It is rather gen- | erally admitted that the cinematograph act of 1927, which was intended to be boon to the British film industry, has failed signally in its purpose. Instead of being improved, the films produced in Britain since the passage of the act have been so inferior that, in the cyes of the public and of the cinema owners compelled to exhibit them, the desig- nation “British” has become almost a term of reproach, A vast sum of money has been frittered away in making these inferior pictures, and confidence in the ability of British producers has been rudely shaken. As yet there is no qual- ity in British films; yet exhibitors, un- der the act, have to accept them “faute de mieux” (in default of better cnes) under the quota basis for British films. ko x Communists Distribute Propaganda. North China Standard, Peiping.— Communists hiding in Peiping have again become active, for while a film was being screened in the Central Cin- ema recently these pence disturbers, sit- ting among the audience, distributed & quantity of handbills over the hall. This, however, did not attract the at- tention of those present until the show ended. As soon as the management of the cinema discovered the literature was of a bolshevik character police Were sent for and an investigation was | conducted among the visitors. The of- | ficers, notwithstanding, falled to make any arrest. ok ¥ Poorest People Pay Highest Interest Rate. La Macedoine, Geneva (anti-govern- | ment paper, published outside Jjurisdic- tion of country)—High rates of inter- est are charged throughout Jugoslavia, and as usual the highest rates have to be paid by the poorest people—a uni- versal fatality of economic laws. In | Croatia and Serbia the rates average 14 per cert. Other regions of the coun- try exceed that figure, and in Mace- | donta 50 and even 60 per cent is| charged poor agriculturists on short- term loans. In observance of govern- ment orders, state banks do not grant credit, even with the most secure mort- gage guarantee, to the native Mace- | donian population; while the Serbian | colonists, who come barefooted into Macedcnia, are favored in every pos- sible way in order that they may re- | ceive economic support and thus be en tion. Again we quote william Ewart Gladstone, for the Macedonians!” * “Macedonia | Brazil Crusades For Education Advaneement. A Noite, Rio de Janeiro.—A crusade for the advancement of education in Brazil has just been inaugurated under the auspices of the Rotary Club of Rio. For the present, efforts will be concen- trated on the improvement of scholastic standards in the federal district, and it is hoped that the benefits will emanate thence throughout the whole nation.| The public will be solicited to ask the avthorities for more and better schools, especially for the elementary grades, and for better pay for the instructors, 50 that more competent people may be drawn into the work. Inasmugh as many children of pri- mary school age do not attend, because their services are needed at home, pro- vi: for such families, enabling them to allow their children to attend school, will be urged. Others, not able to buy suitable clothing or school materials, also will be assisted if the plans of the educational campaign are cairied out. The defect of education in Brazil has | been that while schooling is free, in so far as nttendance is concarned, it has not been compulsory. and maturally the areat majority of the people have fol- low2d the line of leest resistance and nesierted their opportunities for helpful learning . Mitersey » wists today throughout the dreess. I has| | June were $6,748,000,000. been estimated that 80 per cent of the population can neither read nor write. It is not necessary for us to elaborate on the jeopardy such a condition threatens to the welfare and progress ©of the republic. * Kk * Landslide Fills Bed of River. Neues Wiener Tagblatt, Vienna.—A mighty landslide in the Fleinstal region of the South Tyrol has filled the entire bed of a mountain stream, and so di- verted the waters that a sawmill and an electric light plant have been swept away. The slip has so completely filled the channel of the stream that it has tforced a new tourse, rendering useless a number of bridges and requiring the erection of new ones. At Ledrotal, a young laborer was buried by the dsbris. * ok % % Chain Letter Meets Chairman's Approval. Evening Pokt, letter bearing the admonition ‘“‘Cross Crossings Cautlously” came before a meeting of the Auckland Automobile Assoclation recently. The chairman, Mr. Foley, said he did not usually favor the circulation of chain letters, but he considered this letter, in view of its na- ture, a special case, He did not think too much publicity could be given the advice to “cross crossings cautiously.” ‘The familiar warnings of “bad luck"” should the chain be broken were con- tained in the letter. *x x ok % “Was the War Worth it to U. S. A.2” Irish Independent, Dublin.—The World War cost the United States approxi- mately the gross sum of $51,400,000,000, according_to figures compiled by the Tfeasury Department on the eve of the anniversary of the American declaration of war. Interest payments up to last War _costs and the annual bill for national de- fense make up 66 per cent of the total | Government expenditures. Was the war worth it to the U. 8. A. R A City Out of Debt. From the Indianapolis News. Approximately $64,000 in bonded in- debtedness, ali that is against the Southern Indiana city of ‘Washington, is to be paid. As a result, it is announced by Mayor McCarty, the municipal tax rate probably will be educed {rom $1.12 to 56 cents on each $100 in property. o direct notice to the very consideravle part interest on debts owed by a com- munity may enter into revenue de- mands. In this case, obviously, the carrying charge on & comparatively small obligation does not account for all of the differences between the ex- isting tax level and the one that is contemplated. Good civic management in other di- rections was necessary to bring about the opportunity for so considerable a reduction, Nevertheless, the necessity of putting money into sinking funds to retire bonds, as well as to provide a net financial return to their owners, was an item in the situation. Moreover, in the conduct of many municipalities, the piling up of bond issues reaches & point where a considerable share of their annual revenues must be diverted to interest purposes Alone. This 18 not to argue that a pay-as- you-go policy should be relied on ex- clusively, certainly not in many types of public improvements, when the benefits will extend through many dec- ades. Nevertheless, care always should be exercised not to overburden the fu- ture with mortgages. Washington has n\i'::lnd extraordinary foresight on that point. smoes A Wintery Rejoinder. Prom th: Omeha World-Herald. About the only cool reading in the mcr is the reply of Great Britain to ince’s proposal for a United States of Burops. 3 because her folk had more‘ Wellington.—A _chain | outstanding | ‘The program serves | TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1930. NEW BOOKS AT: RANDOM L G M | UNCLE SAM'S ATTIC; The Intimate | | Story of Alaska. Mary Lee Davis. i Tllustrated. Boston: W. A. Wilde | Company. . | In strict memory the old attic is & | junk-heap of stuff. But in fancy it is ever a mine of treasure. A long, low room, sloping sharply | from roof center to sides. Its small ! one window, web-spun to no more than a glimmer of light. A dust-blanket | covering it from ceiling to floor, from wall to wall. Gossamer threads looping from a hundred points across its mutley | of discarded household ware. ~Yet, to | the imagination, these old things take on strange forms and values. That broken trunk becomes an iron-bound chest for the holding of gold and silver, telling of sea-farings and. sea-fights. Here are old stuffs of no account, yet {to the fancy these become rich fabrics | that once belonged to young loveliness. | And 50 on and so on, in enaless inven- ticn. to him who finds romance and ‘ua\lfnl\.rc in the old attic, in any old | attic. | Mary Lee Davis is, clearly, possessed of both romance and adventure, rathev | unusual in its brand. besides. So, a | few years ago, in much the spirit of | her Colonial forbears faring out from | England to Plymouth, she, too, became @ ploneer moving out from New Eng- land to Alaska. And with her she | carried the common stock of informa- | tion concerning this ouf t of the United States to the No®hwest, con- cerning this attic room of the great Repubiic. Curious and energetic as a | pioneer would be, this woman began | almost immediately to rummage about, to ransack around in this litter of in- his Alaska, so a quid pro quo—a $7,200,000, for a meager | area of rocks and ice.’ And here is a summary of the find- |ings of Mary Lee Davis in this top room ol ours—a lumber room, so to speak. For about eight years this inde- fatigable worker has bent her surpassing energy and intelligence to the investi- gation of this great region, since in a | very short time she discovered that her | previous. ififormation about Alaska was | wrong, that her conception of the coun- | try was both false and inadequate. Be- |ing of the breed of the Puritan, no doubt she felt promptly the drive to set the rest of us 1ight as she, out of first- hand contacts and personal experience, |had been able to correct her own er- roneous views. From every considerable book, as from every considerable person, there emanates a spirit, defined, recognizable, influential. The first outcome here to the reader from Mrs. Davis is enthusi- agm, high and sustained, for the full length of this study of Alaska. Coupled with that is an unusual facility in the art of naming things—a real advertis- er's gift in the invention of it and striking labels for the points in hand. Such ardor of pursuit and such clear turn for drawing attention—almost a showman's gesture—are likely, at first, to obscure the -substance and com- pleteness of this study of Alaska. We are all. at heart, Puritans, suspicious of the pleasant thing, inclined to look askance at any unusual ease toward educational matters. And this book is, above all else, a fundamental course of instruction ‘on the subject of Alaska. That it is fascinating—and it is just that—need not, and does not, take away from its ‘solid substance as & body of authentic and comprehensive informa- tion about a comparatively unknown corner of our own country. Not s0 much a sequenc: of instruction such as text books specialize in as it is a blend of facts. Geography and cli- mate, natural products and economic possibilities, cities and towns in their rise and growth, natural products and manufactured commodities, roads and rallroads as means of distribution and communication, native inhabitants and their ways of life, the effect of new con- tacts upon these natives—it is all here in an easy assembling of facts in much | the same way as natural resources and human dctivities get together in the great program of development that ap- pears to be the logical answer to the tremendous energy which is the uni- verse itself. Along this natural, and artful, way of presenting the great theme Mrs. Davis is able to refute ab- solutely the general prepossession that Alaska is a_burden upon the back of Uncle Sam. Figutes from official sources g0 into the proof that Alaska is already a paying concern, that it is facing upon a future of tremendous growth and prosperity. So, the pocket-sensitive citi- zen down this way would better read this book for the easement of his mind upon this vital point. There is a solid budget of information upon these re- sources of the Northwest, a complete reassurance to the timid home folks down below. Much is said about the | quality of the pioneers of this region— real ploneer stuff. .Hardy men and women, courageous against weather— which is not so bad, by the way—and loneliness and certain brands of depri- vation. All these in a few years to be eliminated through the magic of modern communication. And more words are said about the lack of political privi lege, of political rights, to_these pros- pectors and workers in the North. Like the citizens of Washi of the Na- tional Capital, these Ala: s also are, politically speaking, no citizens at all— wards instead. Mrs. Davis is eloquent at this point, and indubitably right. These are torrid days, down here. Suppose that you, in the way of cooling off, take this book In hand and, for the | first time, get in touch with an intimate, comprehensive, authentic record of ex- perience and study concerning this attic room of Uncle Sam's. A captivating book, as useful as it is interesting. Just a word—it should have a better map, a | clearer one than it has. No book about locality is complete without a first-class map. It might, with profit also, have a | competent index. I know—the table of | contents is full and descriptive. But | that is not the same thing. As fine a | book as this.one should not stumble over |any of its real needs. Hate to find | fault—but this is only fair to the reader, |and to the writer. * D-LE-UK: The Wanderer. Alice OO eon ULide and Margaret Alison Johansen. Illustrated by Raymond . Lufkin. New York: Junior Literary Guild. An Eskimo boy, this Ood-le-uk. No better time than these Summe? days for reading about cold corners of the earth. So, at once, you will find your- self, along with Ood-le-uk, where ice and snow are both land and sea. Where getting food is the main thing in life and where the getting of it a mat- ter of constant danger for which noth- ing short of plain pluck will do at all. With this Eskimo lad you will hunt seal, and maybe whale. One day you will' come pretty nearly face to face with a huge white bear, standing high on an ice mountain swinging his head in ominous threat toward your stand- ing gmund-mur lying ground as it turned out to be. This boy of the North is so clearly a boy that, despite the re- pelling land and its lack of enticements, | you are bound to go along with him | through the bitter adventures that come his way. The closest bond between this lad and the rest of us boys is that so many times he was afraid—and no | wonder! S0 many times in the cold |and storm and loneliness, away from | his mother, Nup-su, he actually lay down on the snow once. And that is one of the ¢ st of boys, or men, too, for that matter. Everybody is afraid, afraid of something—of course. The minute he says he is not afraid of anything on earth, that is the time to leave, for he is either very much mis- taken or Re is simply— And, like us, Ood-le-uk was many a time scared llndiolbhio “.t& dBut lh.;‘fil:: Was and whatever the danger o mo- ment might be it was up to him to out of it. It was this necessity for odging trouble that made tie boy so sharp of wit, planning this, or making that, or devising some scheme or other for getting out of each danger and dif- ficulty #s it came along. Off into Si- beria for months and months he wan- cered, all th> time cemirg upoen hard | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. The resources of our free Information | 1631, in which the word “not”is emitted Bureau are at your service. You are|from the Seventh Commandment. A invited 'f call upon it ‘as l:ndm :n you | copy survives in the Bodleian. lease. It is being maintained solely to | e Perve you. ‘What question can we Q Who was the first foreign diplo- answer for you? There is no charge at |mat to be recalled at the request of all, except 2 cents in coin or stamps | this Government’—L. T for return postage. Address your letter | A. “Citizen” Genet, French Minister to The Evening - Star Information | {0, the Congress of the United States, " | who was recalled by the French gov- B o myic, J. 'Haskin, dIrectol, | erpment at the request of President Sy | Washington. Q. Who makes the observations as S to how the various horses are running | m“fie:"(’;k’fl:’fl bR e at various stages of a race?—N. K. | fe v A. Two persons are employed at checking horses at each stage of a race, except when the number of horses is large, when three are employed, the men doing the work being located in the press box. These men are very expert at their jobs and the chart regarded as remarkably accurate, con- sidering all the circumstances. Q. What countries have protested against the new tariff act of the United States?—G. F. A. The Nation of May 21, 1930, listed nearly 30 countries which have pro- tested against the duties of the present tariff act. Among these are: France. Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, De: mark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Ge Egypt, Persia and Ireland. Q. Please explain_the abbreviations used in keeping a base ball score: AB, R. H, O, A, E—F, D. L. A. They stand for at bat, runs, hits, outs, assists and errors, @ How long have they had a Sun- day observance law in England? —S. W. B A The Sunday observance act of 1625 was the first. Q. Did John Drew ever play any Shakespearean roles>—R. G. . He was greatly admired for his role of Petruchio in “The Taming of the Shrew.” He also played the role of Orlando in “As You Like It” and the King of Navaire in “Love's bour's’ Lost.” Q. How old is the General Electric Co.?—F. J. H. ‘The General Electric Co. was created and incorporated under the laws of the State of New York, under special act of the Legislature, in 1892. Q. Why have tke old Roman roads lasted until the present time?—R. N. A. The Roman highways have en- dured to the present time because their foundations were 4 and 5 feet deep and made of various types of stone suited to the locality, principally lime- stone and lava. Q. What was the first game preserve established in the United States?>—F. G. A. Yellowstone Naticnal Park, estab- in 1872, was the first important game preserve in this country. Q. Is the Mona Lisa now hanging in the Louvre the original>—H. C. A. Not long after the theft of Mona Lisa from the Louvre the portrait was recovered -and hung in the Paris Gallery. It has long been a moot ques- tion as to whether or not the portrait in the Louvre is the original or is a copy by Leonardo da Vinci. The Louvre regards it as the original. Q. Can you tell me what is meant when referencs is made to the Wicked Bible?—F. G. M. A. The so-called Wicked Bible refers to edition of the Bible, printed in is | many, Austria, Rumania, Greece, Turkey, | A. The New Orleans Association of Commerce says that St. Charles avenu® ‘lnd its continuation, St. Charles street, ;).s 4!z miles long. | Q. How were the old glass prints made>—G. Y. T. A. . A glass print was made by cover- | ing a blackened glass with white opaque | varnish and drawing the picture on it | with an etching needle. An impression was then taken on a sensitized paper exposed to light through the glass. The print was in reality a kind of photo- 1;7-1')'7;. although resembling an etching | in effect. | Q At what tide is the water at mean sea level>—C. O. L. “The aveyage height of the water. all stages of the tide considered, is mean sea level. At ocean stations the half tide level usually differs but slightly from mean sea level. Q. What savages mutilate their | ears>—E. M. | "A. Very few primitive people leave | the ears totally unmutilated. Both the | ear lobes are commonly p 3 | is usually done durin; | small piece of wood inserted in wound which is left to heal. Later this block is removed and a larger one in- serted, the operation being continued unultheho\ehthe;equhddn,ne | greatest distortions are to be found in | Borneo and East Africa. Q. TIs 4t detrimental to trees to top | them?—c. H. H. A. The Forest Service says that, if properly done, the topping of branches is beneficial and improves the appear- ance of trees, Q. Are women's voices ever heard in the Amos 'n’ Andy programs?—R. G. Women's voices are never heard. The men talk to women on the tele- phone and receive letters ‘ them, but their voices are not brought into the sketch. Q. Did George Washington's father live' in England?—S. H. T. A. Washington's grandmother, Mil- dred Warner Washington, buried her husband, Lawrence, at Bridges Creek, | when he was 37 years of age. The | widow emigrated to England with her three children, John, Augustine and Mildred, and there married George Gale, her second husband. Twelve years after her "death Gale came to America with his three stepchildren. | Augustine, later to become Wi - lton"; father, thus returned to his native and. [ Q. Who wrote “Oh! What a web we weave, when first we to deczive”?—J. B. A. It is from Scott's “Marmion,” Canto VI, Stanza XVIIL Q. What was the price which Wil- liam Penn paid for Pennsylvania?—- |L. A W, A. In speaking.of this event Joh: | Hix- says that the amount was $80,0C ' | (16,000 pounds). led ez When Quake Praise for the efficiency of the Fas- cist government is evident in comment on the Italian earthquake. It is de- plored that some of the picturesque Teatures of that Mediterranean country have been eliminated, but predictions are made that future building in_ the earthquake zone will be along the lines of resistance to the forces of nature. “The rapidity, determination and thoroughness with which the govern- ment rose to the occasion fill the world with admiration,” declares the St. Louis Times. The Charleston Daily Mail ob- serves that “the kinship of the world, 50 often put to severe strain through the infirmities, selfishness, ambitions and cross-scheming of mankind, is-made manifest when disaster comes,” and the Louisville Courier-Journal declares: “Never before has Mussolini’s gospel of work been more needed or his demand for national unity had 2 higher purpose. Let the credit go where it may, the world will acclaim the present effort of Fascist Italy.” “Nothing can be done,” according to the Seattle Daily Times, “to curb these mighty forces; man can only sescue the stricken or move out of the danger zone. An earthquake no dcubt is the most terrifying of the natural phenomena. When the earth, which seems so solid d substantial to man, begins to heave and rock, he is bewildered and filled with terror. And the accompanying eruptions of volcanoes and the rush of mighty winds add to his misery and danger. Psychologists have speculated on the effect of living constantly in danger of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. It'is their opinion that the presence of such perils leaves their im- press on the minds of the people. Na- tions that live in the firmer and quleter regions of the earth know nothing of the trials which have tempersd the character of the Italian people.” * ok ok * ‘That Italy, like Japan, “will rebuild her destroyed towns of materials that can more strongly resist earthquakes” is emphasized by the Albany Evening News, observing that “the new build- ings will be of reinforced concrete ai will be of one and two stories.” The News concludes with the query, “Even- tually Italy may be able to make itself much safer from earthquakes, but will it bé possible to make structures abso- lutely quakeproof?” ‘The St. Louls Post-Dispatch points out that ‘“even the sites of some wrecked towns will be changed, in view oi modern observation that a bedrock foundation is more likely to be tembior- proof than an earthen,” and that paper adds as to the accepted methods: “The Japanese, living in a land of earth- quakes, have learned to build their foundations thick and broad, their roofs light, their chimneys short. The new Tokio, profiting from the disaster of 1923, has applied these principles, and doubtless they will also be followed in Italy. To construct A house so braced and put together that a shock will cause it to move as a unit rather than falling to pieces is the aim of the builder in an earthquake country. Since science cannot as yet give earthquake warnings, the citizen's only security is a shock-resistant house. Italy has to meet, strange things to under- stand. All the time he was’just a boy, and nothing else. But time moved on, and he did, too. Through experiences that are hard to read, even, the boy makes his way, finally, back toward home. A trader he becomes in the course of the years, carrying across Si- beria_the wares of that country to his | own homeland. Building boats, gather- lar trips across the stormy Bering that separates Asia from America, from Alaska. This of Ood-le-uk, the on walrus of tures, of his dangers and, best , his getting on tep of the fears that at first used to be ther on of | him. The book is & lesson. pe It is a story, a lusty one. And, yet, the best part of it to me is that Ood-le-uk learned not to be afraid. Not so many of us have got story Eskimo boy, was found, roughly skeiched and carved tusks, telling of | &l his far wanderings, of his rough adven- of all, of | D& Fascist ‘Efficiency Prais;ad : Brings Disaster 10,000 of these to build, to replace thoss now in ruins, and probably many - dwelling outside the devastated are> will ‘be remodeled as an aftermath cof the disturbance.” x % x “These earthquakes are not surprising or terrifying to the scientist,” remarks the Duluth Herald. “He expects them. To the average man the earth is the most permanent thing. A scientist with the applause of his group has spoken of its surface as ‘shim . meaning quivering. To him, looking backward ages upon ages, the surface of the earth is nol permanent. Still this is only in relation to geological time.” The Haverhill Gazette believes that “Itallans will not lack the hope that means the overcoming of the con- sequences of the ruin and death that have befallen them.” that “they have survived other earthquakes, more ter- rible than this, and have continued their development. “It is a mighty task Providence Bulletin, “but one can understand Mussolini’s determination that the Italian state must assume the responsibility. If, however, aid is nec- essary the people of the United States are pre}urefl—euzr‘ in fact—to give freely of their material resources with the same generosity with which they |now extend _their sympathies.” | Uniontown Herald comments: “The | Italian government is going aboutsthe work of rescue and relief in an excep- tionally commanding and comprehen- | sive manner. It is prophetic of what | may be expected when the actual work | of rehabilitation of the devastated sec- tions is begun.” * ok ok | “Cheers and tears” which accom- panied King Victor Emmanuel's visit to | the quake-shaken regions impress the | Baltimore Sun, as it noticés that “his | tour brought forth a genuine and strong emotional response, and to the frightened survivors of the disaster he was able to give & measure of comfort iand confidence.” The Sun concludes | that, “in_such a time, he means some- | shing to Ital” which no dictator, though masterful and efficient and strong, cr):fid mean. * ¢ In the deeper places of themselves there is still the tradition of some divinity hedging a King, some feeling that in himself are represented the will and force that have resisted all the other accidents of national history and pressed on beyond them.” The Hamllton Evening Journal declares that “Italy is to be l-‘onfl‘l!\lllted< upon the manner in which it has met such a ;i(irlskr“ lndhtglt “the presence of the ng among his stricken people prove an inspiration to them.” by 3 ——r—— Chicago Gang Menace National. Prom the Madison (Wis.) State Journai. Further emphasis has been given of the lawlessness arising from Chicago gangdom by the bank robberies in this State. Armed bandits took away from the Stratford State Bank of Marathon County $12,000. Anothar g obtainad $1,000 at the Bank of Leopolls, Shaw- ano County. ‘There is little question that the rob- bers were members of the gangs thate have obtained such a hold upon Chica- g0. [They are daily extending the field of their outlawry. Practically all the robberies that have occurred in Wiscon- sin during the past two years have been offshoots of Chicago gangdom. Wisconsin stands in no different posi- tion from other nelghboring States to Illinois., They are all suffering, as are the small citles in Illinois, from the depredations of men who are members ing these into trade fleets, making regu- | 21 Sea ——— e Or a Seat in Congress. that matter anywhere near settled yet. I'm glad that he won out. A hardy story | that brings a strange people and a far | time very real and very clec:. \ From the Charleston Daily Mail. Most_of the aduli. sitters prefer the poct office steps to the treetops.