Evening Star Newspaper, August 10, 1930, Page 24

' THE EVENING STAR Sunday Morning WASHINGTON, D. C. SUNDAY .August 10, 1830 THEODORE W. NOYES. ...Editor Star Ne Com W e s S Svesnae Pennsylvania Ave. New Yorl "*i0 East 4204 Bt ghicaso : Lake san Buildine. ropean A v 8t. London. Rate by Carrier Within the City. inge Star............45cTer m and Banday Star "Bundiy 60c per month 5¢ per month Sc per copy he end of ~ach month - 7 mail or «elephone atts may be sent 1o RaticnaT Soos: * Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. and Vi ia. ai unday only All Other Stal ily and Sunday iy en'y ay only e 26.00: 1 mo.. $4.00: 1 mo., 40¢ and Canada. . $12.00; 1 mo.. $1.00 $800: 1 mo.. T3¢ $5.00: 1 mo.. 50 ted Press. exclusively entitled ication of all news cis- or not otherwise cred- S1ehis of pusiieation of rights of punlication of rein ste also reserved. Re e (hte ‘paper A 4 t T an Bublished herein. Al #pecial dispatches he: The District's Tax Revenue. ‘a circulation, as Well as necessities. ‘Those who expend too much on them might claim that they are voluntary human sacrifices on the altar of the economic gods. But Dean Inge probably was not stooping to superficial logic. / His pes- <imism has always a sounder philo- sophical basis. The enormous amuse- ment bill, it hardly can be denied, is evidence of a disconcerting degree of irresponsibility on the part of the American people, a neglect of tomor- row for the unsatisfying thrills of to- day, and a failure to grasp the real wvalues of life. Are we letting ourselves drift out of the iron age, with all its evil drunken- ness, ruthlessness and wars, into an age changed for a dead, sultry calm? Dol- lars are sails on the ‘ship of society, How they are spent from day to day determines not the speed of the craft, but where it is going. Lindbergh’s Wise Forecast. It was quite in character that when Charles Lindbergh spoke on Friday by radio in an international broadcast on aviation his enthusiasm for air trans- portation was tempered with a practical knowledge of its limitations. Though predicting great advances in aircraft development and use, he did not fore- The data on tax revenue assembled by Assescor Richards do denote, as he says, a growth in Washington, rapid real estate development and improve- ment in residential and business areas. ‘The demands of taxation, as well as increase of taxable resources, are nat- ural accompaniments of growth in pop- ulation and Washington is no excep- tion. But it is extremely, doubtful that scientific appraisal of all the condi- tions entering into the extraordinary growth in tax receipts here would em- phasize the increase in population, coupled with real estate improvement, as being mainly responsible. Mr. Rich- ards mentions two other factors that probably account chiefly for the growth in tax receipts. One of them is the cast the displacement of present methods by land and sea. His words on this point should be specifically noted: The last few years have seen the ex- tension of airlines over every continent. The next few will bring transoceanic routes to unite these continental serv- ices into & network covering the entire world. To realize the full significance of this development, however, it must be considered as a part of the whole system of modern tion. For unless some radical scientific discovery revolutionizes our present aircraft we cannot compete with ships and rail- roads in the movement of most articles of commerce. The airplane augments rather than replaces ground transport. Its mission is to simplify intercourse be- tween countries by rapid transportation of passengers and documents; to bring us in closer contact with other people and to facilitate thé negotiations neces- ncrease from two-thirds to full-value assessment in the decade since 1920. Another is the diminishing contribu- tion toward Capital development and maintenance from the Federal Gov- ernment, which, coupled with an an- nually expanding demand for revenue, _ has_thrown upon the District the duty of raising the balance. It is only less than amazing. From the fiscal years 1880 to 1922, eovering & period of 42 years, “'ll estate tax receipts approximated a total | of $150,000,000. Between the fiscal | years 1923 and 1931, inclusive, or nine | years, District real estate has been called upon to raise about $142,000,000. | Anfltwhwshownlnme collection of personal vae‘r;y taxes, reflecting improved methods in collect- u.mmthdflcuuwmy,mm mhmnchunwuenwdlnthe against intangibles. In the face of the enormous increase i tax revenues, levied by a legislature whose members are alien to the Dis- triet, in which those who pay the taxes have no voice either in the amount to be coliected or in the manner of spend- mmmhuwnmd.unm- payers of the District sufered the usual insults during the last session of Congress. They were labeled as mendi- 0 pay taxes and seeking to pry off the Jid to the Nation's cash box. Petition that the Congress sbide by & law of its own making, never repealed and still the District as a copartner in Capital t. This Pall there will be an effort by & committee of the House to examine the system under which expenses for the Capital are divided between the Nation and the local community. Indi- cations are that the committee plans an intensive study of the city's taxable resources, with the thought of collect- | ing additional revenues under new tax laws. Any sueh effort should, of course, | be directed toward applying methods of taxation that fall equitably upon the taxed community, and not with the end in view of necessarily increasing the tax burden or the receipts from taxa- tion. The District has never sought to escape its full responsibility as s tax- payer. Its only plea has been that it be dealt with fairly, and that the Na- tion recognize its own obligation while exercising the eustomary vigilance to make sure thai the District's obliga- tions are recognized. s Hello! After more than a century of prideful adherence to the garb of the head waiter, American diplomats think they would like gaudy uniforms, swords and plumes. Better not let Senators Borah, Robinson and Heflin have any- thing to do with their design. How about awarding service stripes for naval conferences? Or should they be wound stripes? ——— Cost of Amusement. Dean Inge, who is somewhat addicted to a gloomy outlook on things Ameri- ean, comments rather bitterly on this Nation's len-billion-dollar annual bill for amusements. This sum, he told the Wesleyan Con- ference at Leeds FPriday, in two years would pay off the British war debt. A eynical pacifist might remark that the dean is discriminating unjustly be- tween smusements—but, nevertheless, his statement is a text for thought. ‘We have heard the same reasoning before. A few years ago there was an abundance of statistics showing how much could be purchased, in education, public health, etc., with the money the American people wasted on liquor. Every now and then somebody presents similar statistics concerning the vast sums squandered on cigarettes, cos- metics, prize fights, bridge prizes, fragile toys which go to the dump a week after Christmas, pornographic lit- erature, and lots of other commodities not altogether essential to comfortable living. Even in the face of temporary business depressions this Nation is passing through an age of luxury, some phases of which are irksome, justly and unjustly, to some persons. The argument as generally expressed is superficial with almost obvious fal- lacies. There is no very exact analogy between a nation and an individual. - What may be pure waste for the latter may be a factor in economic stability ior the former. Luxuries keep money sary for mutual understanding and trade. It is to be observed that Lindbergh accepts the possibility of “some radical scientific discovery” which will “revo- lutionize our present aircraft.” No one can foretell the future with assurance in terms of man's mechanical equip- ment. Prophets may predict wonders yet to come, even as haye prophets in | the past. Some three centuries ago the English “witch,” Mother Shipton, fore- told: Carriages without horses shall go And accidents fill the earth with woe. ‘Around the world thoughts will fiy In the twinkling of an eye: Through the hills men shall And neither horse nor ass bestride; Under water men shall walk, Shall ride. shall sleep. shall talk, Iron in the water shall float As easily as & wooden boat. ‘This was a forecast of automobiles, of telegraph, telephone and radio, of the submarine and of the iron ship. All the wonders of the present save the airplane were thus foretold. Lindbergh, however, does not essay the role of a prophet, He puts it up to science to develop “some radical discovery” that will enable aireraft to compete with ships and railroads in the movement of most articles of commerce. Until then the airplane will be an augmenting rather than a replacing facility. He does see, however, great good ta come from the increased use of aircraft for individual transportation which will “pring us in closer contact with other people” and make for better under- standing and wider trade. — e ‘There is no doubt there is a paucity of interesting news during long, hot Summers, but whoever thought the murder-suicide or double suicide of Crown Prince Rud:=Izh of Austria and his sweetie back in the 80s would be re-exhumed. There have been about as many versions of that tragedy as there have been years since its happening. _— e Most citizens of this country would like to read some day about a girl ban- dit who was not pretty, whose hair was not bobbed and who was more than twenty-two years old. — e ecape- ‘The jealous New Jersey youth who drenched his sweetheart with a bucket of water would, if living in these parts, have been doubly culpable. A nolseless subway is being planned for Chicago. Then the shots can be heard much more plainly. - Beach Chairs at Coney. A war that started the other day on the beach at Coney Island, which is New York's most popular playground in | Summertime, has ended in an armistice that is a present victory for the people. Some years ago an ordinance was adopted forbidding the use of privately | owned chairs on the beach in order that the rights of a company to which & concession had been granted for rent- ing chairs to the public might be pro- tected. No one seemed to question the validity of this prohibition then and the concession proved profitable. But little by little the people encroached upon the preserves of the concession- aires and brought their own chairs to the sands. The other day the conces- sion owners complained and orders were given for a strict enforcement of the ordinance. A score or 50 of people were arrested when they brought their own beach chairs down to the water front and set them up. Immediately there was a great hullabalico. One of the Republican leader# of Brooklyn Jumped Into the arena and espoused the cause of the people. The beach, he said, was theirs, for their use and pleasure, and they had a right to bring their own chairs if they preferred, and the borough president, or the borough council, or whatever the concession- granting authority was, had no right to preempt the sands for private profit. He engaged twenty lawyers to defend the accused chair sitters. chairs were brought to the beach and their owners and occupants defied the police to arrest them for using their own property on the public space. The police were reluctant to enforce the rule and finally, after there had been much conferring between the borough presi- dent and the chief of police and other officials, orders were given to suspend hostilities. Meanwhile the courts were considering the cases of those already arrested, but sentences were suspended on the first two and the hearings on the other cases were postponed. There 15 no disposition just mow to start a fight that may result in serious scandal about concessions and possible graft. of sugar, when tempests will be ex-! More private | i 180 the people are lugging their own chairs down to the water front and the concessionaires are sulking and with« holding payments for the beach priv- flege. Meanwhile Mayor Walker, over- lord of the metropolitan area, is hoping that this little frontier scrap will not grow into & campaign of attack npon the Tammany-controlied administra= tion of Greater New York. ————— Virgins of the Sun. Senator Bingham's final report en his excavations and discoveries at Machu Picchu, mysterious ancient Inca city in the Peruvian Andes, brs just been is- sued after a lapse of nearly fifteen years as a monograph of the National | Geograpaic Society. During these years the Senator from Connecticut has achieved distinction in a different field. He has turned trom the, mysteries of the past to the irrita- tions of the present, from study of the eternal dead to dealing with the evanes- cent today. Who can say which is the most important and significant? The publication should serve to re- call the fact that Senator Bingham contributed one of the most fascinating chapters in New World archeology by discovering this little stone city on a mountaimtop, probably entirely aban- doned for nearly four centuries, where the virgin. of the sun found their final | refuge in the houses of their ancestors. In his conclusions from his study of the material collected he has gone far to- ward solving the mystery. There are few more colorful stories in history than that of the Inca civ- ilization, with all of its strengths and shortcomings, which was wiped out by the Spanish conquerors. Writers have placed upon it & glamour which it did not deserve and on the other hand have failed to recognize the truly sub- stantial contributions made by these peaceful, intelligent mountain Indians to human progress. In some respects they were far behind the white men who ruthlessly murdered them. In some respects they were far ahead. Unfortunately they left no written rec- ords. Everything te be learned sbout them must be learned with ax, spade and pick, Toward the recovery of the detalls of this vanished civilization Senator Bingham has made what is probably the most important contribution to date. Whatever may be his future career in politics his fame in a more substantial field is secure. The marvelous stone walls of Machu Picchu, from which he removed the concealing forest, are his archeological monument, —— e Some who view with stony eyes the antics of Mr. G. B. Shaw would prob- ably prefer to have been the drunken father, of whom Shaw writes so ac- curately and unfilially, rather than the gifted offspring. e ‘They take short cuts down in Mexico, where one politician lassoed his op- ponent and dragged him through the dirt. Up here they just throw it at each other, a tedious process. o All the comfort most of the arid regions got on August 4 was a shower ©of meteors. Spectacular, but not of any practical value. An underworld character dubbed “The Yellow Kid” is being anxiously sought by Chicago police. Have they tried Hogan's Alley? ————— “Suspicions Flare Anew in Balkans,” states a recent headline. is the usual fuel for flares. ———— ‘Texas has not seen anybody like the Fergusons since Sam Houston, SHOOTING STARS. the oft BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. An August Mirage. I hear the distant sleigh bells ring In light and careless mirth; I see the sparkling snowflakes fling Themselves upon the earth, The river's currents helpless lie In icy fetters bound, And Northern winds with mournful sigh Through barren branches sound. Behind the frosted window panes In cheerful mood we sup. 'Tis chill December once again— ©Oh, do not wake me up! A Futile Ambition. “Why don't you try to win the affec- tions of the people?” “Because,” answered Senator Sor- ghum, “long experience has taught me | the futility of trying to win affection and money at the same time.” Amplified Reflection, “All the world's & stage,” quoted the melancholy man. “Yes,” answered Mr. Stormington Barnes, “and the average lifetime isn’t long enough to provide a good re- hearsal, let alone a first-class perform- ance.” Endurance. He was a hero in his way, No candid man can doubt it— He bore the weather, day by day, And never talked about it. An Admission. “Have you read the ‘Last Days of Pompeii'?” asked the visitor. “No,” answered Mrs. Cumrox, with a charming air of confiding frankness; “to tell the truth, 1 haven't even read the first ones.” Extent of the Disaster. “He says he cannot live without me,” sald the impressionable heiress. “Don't believe it,” returned Miss Cayenne. “He will live. But he may have to economize,” An Unfair Advantage. A little nonsense now and then Is relished by the best of men; The worst men like it, too, we know, And wisdom stands but little show. “A man can't have too good an opin- fon of hisse’f,” said Uncle Eben, “per- vided he's willin' to hustle aroun’ an’ hones'ly try to deserve it. Weather Man Is “Anti.” Prom the San Antonlo Press. “Dry referendum for Iowa urged” There's a certain consistency in that, for just now how dry Iowa is! - That’s Right! HE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, A GOOD BY THE RIGHT REV. JAME. Bishop of Text, 11 Timothy, i.3, “A good soldier of Jesus Christ.” The essential attributes of a good soldier are obedience, loyalty and courage. ‘Writing to a young man upon whose life he had exercised a strong influence, the great apostle, St. Paul, admonishes him, concerning his Chris- tian career, to “endure hardness, as & good soldier of Jesus Christ.” characteristic of this apostle to find his analogies for Christian practice in the common occupations of daily life, Two of these that he repeatedly uses have to do with the athlete, his training and discipline,- and the soldier. To his mind Christian disciplehood suggested life service. He says later to his young disciple, “no man that warreth en- tangleth himself with the affairs of this life.” prove destructive of reasonable dis- {cipline and a concentrated endeavor to obtain a definite objective. We wonder how true this ancient modern view of Christian living is. To endure hardness means to equip one’s self for severe tests and strains. The young soldier who entered the training camp soft and unprepared was put through exacting exercises and re. quired to observe definite hours for de- finite purposes. The result was that within a brief s of time he was hardened and disciplined and made ready for active service in the field. He learned the three fundamentals of & soldier: Obedience, loyalty and courage. The periods in which the church has made its most pronounced advance have not been those that were char- acterized by ease and indolence. Its great forward movements have been in times of strenuous trial and persis- tent opposition. Its finest leaders have come out of periods where it cost much to be a disciple. Our age is character- ized by excess of indulgence in habits and ways of living that contribute little or nothing to either physical or moral fitness. Muscles grow soft and flabby where they are not given to reg- ular exercise. The muscles of the soul sustain a like condition where they are 1t - was | N0 a militant, aggressive and well planned | “Entangling alliances” must | ideal our | D. C.,. AUGUST 10, 1930—PART TWO. - SOLDIER 'S E. FREEMAN, D. D, LL. D, W ashington. not cailed into & service that is exact- . There was certainly nothing about | the teachings of the Master of Men that suggest an anemic or colorless or pas- sive view of Christian disciplehood. Some of the things He sald to His im- | mediate followers must have shocked and amazed them. He did not present a rosy view of what it meant to live according to His irds. He gave omise of ease or freedom from hard and stern disciplines. On the contrary, He maintained that these! | were indispensable to the development | | of moral and spiritual worth. He made | a distinct appeal to the heroic elements |in man’s nature, and He illustrated it by His own habit and practice. It is! not that He presented an unappealing | conception of Christian living. If He | made it difficult, He made clear its compensations. rton had this in mind when he said “Christianity has I not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and not tried.” He does not maintain, however, that by | reason of the difficulties involved it is unappealing. It is our experience that men and | women, and especially our youth, are more responsive to the Christian ideal of life, when it is presented in terms of costly service. There Iis “much in the modern view of Chris- tian discipleship that certainly lacks the strong, manly elements 50 nobly illustrated in the life of Jesus. | We ‘are bound to believe that the church has lost something of its ap- peal by presenting to men and women & program that calls for nothing of sacrifice and self-imposed discipline. It has been repeatedly illustrated in our corporate life that the finest exhibi- tions of our physical and moral quali- ties are disclosed when put to test and strain. “Piping times of peace” are altogether desirable, but if they make living too easy and luxurious they tend to reduce us the plane of ineficiency. No matter what our situation in life may be, we are bound to be obedient to some self-prescribed system, loyal to some splendid and lofty ideal, and unfailingly courageous in its defense. Local Organizations, Private Initiative Needed for Nati BY WILLIAM HARD. The drought will necessitate the formaticn of large numbers of local vol- untary associations of citizens for relief work in co-operation with State gov- ernments and the Federal Government. It should also greatly stimulate the de- velopment of permanent co-operative organizations among farmers not only for the selling but for the buying of commodities connected with the agri- cultural industry. Such are the two main conclusions of a general character to be observed here in the course of the gradual unfolding of the Federal Gov- ernment’s efforts toward combating the distress which the drought has caused. The Government is rapidly gathering data with regard to the precise loca- tions of the maximum of the distress and with regard to its precise charac- teristics both as to regions and as to individual farming units, but it seems clear to this writer, after conversations with most of the principal govern- mental persons concerned, that even after all such data has been compre- hensively gathered and after the Presi- dent this next week has announced the nature of his plans and hopes, it will be virtually impossible for the Govern- ment o proceed effectively unless and until there is a prompt growth from the grass-Toots up of local associations of farmers #nd business men through which the Government can act. * ok E % The fundamental redson for this sit- uation and for the duty which it lays upon local communities has become abundantly apparent here through such reports of the effects of the drought as have uiready reached Washington. It is increasingly revealed that those ef- fects differ so widely from region to region and from county to county and from farm to farm that the problem of dividual personal cases. These cases are of an infinite variety. They include the farmer whose land is fully mortgaged and whose farm animals are fully chat- tel mortgaged and who now has lost all his feed crops and who is essentially destitute. They include, at the other end of the scale, the farmer who may have lost all his feed crops, but who has unmortgaged land and unmortgaged farm animals and who for the purchase of feed needs simply rapid and eco- nomical credit. It is wholly impossible, it is realized here, for the Federal Gov- ernment to reach out through the length and breadth of the country and itself sift these individual cases into | their multitudinous differing categories and then itself convey to each farmer what he actually needs and keep back from each farmer what he actually does not n L The problem is accordingly insoluble in any comprehensive and genuinely successful way unless there is & quick outbreak of that spirit of local self- government and of local self-assistance which so many of our State Governors have recently praised so highly and ad- vocated so earnestly. It is thought here that in this emergency they have a large opportunity to rescue their re- marks from being only academic and political. They have constantly assalled “Federal interference. Today States in many instances seem to be Ipoking almost exclusively to the Fed- eral Government for action to relieve | their distress, and in the meantime nu- merous State governments, which are much closer to the difficulties involved and which should accordingly know much more about them, are standing relatively idle and unconcerned. What the moment is thought here to demand, along with Federal Interstate Nation- wide planning and leading, is a big stirring of local initiative in States and counties and towns and villages toward the creation of collective associations with which the Federal Government can competently deal. K Kk In every afflicted community there should be, it is thought here, an asso- ciation which can survey the local needs and which can accurately re- port upon them to the State and Fed- eral authorities and which finally, and above all, can assume some financial responsibllity for the repayment cf the Joans which under its auspices the Fed- eral Government's agencies may be able to advance to farmers for the rehubili- tation of their farming prospects In some cases these local assoclations might be based upon local agricultural co-operative societies already existing. The Federal Government has found, however, that in large numbers of in- stances our agricultural co-operative societies are still too weak and too in- experienced financially to be iegarded as reliable credit institutions. 1t this country were today properly equipped with strong co-operative organizations of farmers for the collective buying of machines and of animals and of fer- tilizers and of feeds, the Government could proceed to deal directly and in: the whole problem of the administering of the present needed drought rvelief would be automatically solved. 1In the general absence of effective co-operative organizations of that sort, it is now held here that temporary voluntary credit organizations with the help of local business men must be at once brought into existence. * ok ok X Such credit organizations, which will study the needs of the local farmers and then help to underwrite the repayment of the moneys advanced to them, should report as rapidly as possible to ir State governments and to the Federal Gbvernment's ap- propriate agencies: the Department of Agriculture, the Federal Farm Board, rellef is a problem ultimately of in-| their | stantly with those organizations and ! onal Drought Relief the Federal Farm Loan Board and the Red Cross at Washington, and the Grain Stabilizing Corporation at 343 South Dearborn street, Chicago. The Grain Stabilization Corporation is probably in a position to do more than any other Federal agency to meet the present most insistent difficulty: namely, the finding and providing of feed for farm animals for the preven- tion of the serious crippling of animal husbandry in American agriculture. The Grain Stabilization Corporation es vast amounts of grain, und is prepared to keep on buying more in proportion as it calls upon its present supplies for the relief of drought suf- ferers. It can funnel grain from re- glons of surplus to regions of ceficit. It can thus help both ends of the chain of farm depression. It cannot how- ever, successfully deal with a million or so of individual farmers; nor can it, with a proper regard for the spirit of the law under which it operates, give grain away free either for feed or serd. Its power to solve the problem of put- ting feed grain and seed grain into the places where it will relieve distress and restore such stability as is possible | must be said to depend entirely upon its being able to secure from local re- | porting and financing organizations | a willingness to help to validate the ;f.rm notes on which che grair. can be shipped and sold. Local business men, and particularly local bankers, are thus really the indispensable keystone of any arch of drought relief plans | :;nu:lld the Federal Government may ‘The sum of the situation is that in this matter Federal resources will lie largely dormant “ill awakened into ef- ! fective use by average private Ameri- can citizens. (Copyright, 1930 Fish and Wild Game Dying From Drought BY HARDEN COLFAX. Work which has cost the Bureau of Fisheries millions of dollars has gone for naught. Fish planted in streams and lakes at great expense have been destroyed and the native denizens of |inland waters have suffered severely. It may require years to bring the fish | population up to its former mark as a resuit of this Summer's extreme heat |and drought. ‘This condition has brought forth in- sistent demands from the States for the reforestation of lands adjoining lakes and waterways and for a plan of flood protection which will insure a fairly steady level of water throughout the year. The War Department is now studying plans which will not only pre- | vent damage from floods, but will ob- | viate water shortages. In the South, East and Middle West, | the drought has taken a heavy toll of | | fish. The heat has dried up and killed | off ‘much of the vegetation on which |fish feed and which provides spawning places and refuges for the young fish. | When the waters dropped, many fish were left in hollows and shallow pools. These waters became heated and the fish died by thousands. * k% % Many were rescued by being picked up, placed in cans and taken to places Where the water was deeper and colder. The glare of the sun on the shallow water has made many fish blind, ac- cording to thhe Fisheries Department. Many migratory fish which come up the streams to spawn have been land- locked and cannot escape. In the streams running into the oceans and the Gulf of Mexico, the flow has dropped until tidewater has ad- vanced higher than it has in years. This mixture of salt water has been fatal to many fresh-water fish which could not get upstream because of the | shallows. Clubs and private sportsmen who \have stocked preserves with fish will face a shortage for years to come and the replacing of the fish killed will cost ! millions. Even the hatcheries of the | Government, which are fed by springs in many instances, have suffered. Some salt-water fish are being found amaz- ing distances inland. It may be neces- sary for the PFisheries Department to enlarge still further its establishments and broaden its program for the next few years. [ | * % % % Wild game is suffering almost as much as the fish. Grass, trees and underbrush are burned brown and are :;thou]t Aus::'nm-nce ltn most cases. The pmal wal g places of wild game have been duermr and many wild ani- mals are clustering around the farm houses and even the cities for relief. Small relief can be afforded them, because domestic animals also have suffered. In some sections of the coun- try farmers have their spring$ and wells padlocked and are guarding their water- ing troughs and streams with shotguns. Long strings of hungry and thirsty cat- tle are being driven along the roads to the rivers, Automobiles can ford streams which normally boil bank full, with danger even to the stoutest swim- mer. Pastures are as bare as Mother Hub- bard’s cupboard and some farmers are of any kind. Some killed their stock because they could neither feed nor sell them. In the East, where each farmer normally raises or feeds a few cattle, sheep off hogs, beef on the hoof unable in their districts to buy feed | s: i Capital Sidelights BY WILL P. KENNEDY. Representative Roy G. Pitzgerald of Dayton, Ohio, one of the most versatile headline grabbers in Congress, is hob- nobbing during these torrid days with the dignitaries of the newest great nation, the Emerald Isle, kissing the famous Blarney Stone, slaking his thirst at the “Meeting of the Waters,” boat- ing on the beautiful Lakes of Killarney, climbing the Giants’ Causeway and testing the sturdiness of the storied Junting cars. Representative Fitzgerald is deep of chest, wide of girth, cordial in hand- clasp and tireless in his’ acquisitiveness about the best interests of his fellow men. He swam the Hellespont, tum- bled down a mountainside in Alaska, was the original pioneer “Flying Con- gressman” and has generally done his share of seeing the world. He was captain of Infantry in the | American expeditionary forces during the World War and is lieutenant colonel in the Infantry Reserve Co He has been president of the Fed District Bar Association. He belongs to the Sons of the American Revolution, the American Legion and the Mountaineers of Seattle; an honorary member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the United Spanish War Veterans. He was a delegate in 1927 to Paris and in 1928 to Berlin conferences of the Interpar- liamentary Union in the interests of codification of international law—and that's why, following the work of the London Conference, he is being enter- tained so lavishly in Ireland these days, with headquarters in the Royal Hi- bernian Hotel, Dublin, as guest of the Irish Free State. He has proudly sent us a picture of himself being greeted by the governor general at the latter’s garden ty, backed up by Prof. Jere O'Sullivan, minister of education: Representative Ruth Bryan Owen and the American consul, Benjamin M. Hulley. Representative Pitzgerald writes that he had a pleasant talk with Desmond Fitzgerald, minister of defense; John A. Costello, the attorney general; Michael Hayes, speaker of the Dail Eirean, and other officials of the Irish Free State. * oK K % This campaign is bringing out some of the old-timers, incongruous ‘“bed- fellows” of politics and some nationally known characters. Take, for example, “Alfalfa Bill” Murray, so named be- cause hne was the first farmer to grow alfalfa in Oklahoma and an inveterate booster for that crop. Now, after being out of politics, and about everything else, for more than & decade, he comes back with a smash- ing defeat in the primaries of an oil millionaire for the Democratic nomina- tion for Governor by some 70,000 votes. "hlwh-hlkln!" his way to the Governor’s chalr. 0st penniless, and not hiding that fact, he is stumping his State, begging ; rides and “boarding around” with his friends. Like many another 'man who has made a name for himself, at the age of 12 Murray ran away from home with less than 50 cents in his pocket. He had never gone to school and could not read or write. He picked up a job on a Texas farm at $7.50 a month and started in to educate himself, with such success that after going through high school he taught school, started a news- paper, took a law course and was ad- mitted to the bar. Then he moved to the old Indian Territory, opened a law_office and drifted back to farming. When Okla- homa became a State, Murray helped write the constitution, but first he primed himself with coples of the con- stitutions of all the other States, which he studied on the front porch of his three-room log cabin. This work made him Speaker of the State Legislature and brought him to Congress. He is a perennial frontiersman with a complex or converse against too much civilization. 8o, six years ago he trekked to Bolivia, talked that govern- | ment into giving him a concession and started_an Oklahoma colony there— which fizzled out. The colonists all de- veloped a hankering for home, and last wmve was “Alfalfa Bill” himself— broke. If elected, Murray promises that he will live in the garage back of the Governor's mansion, Tent the “palace,” which he declares is too grand for him; fire the gardener and raise his own “truck.” e The ravages of time on one of the Capital's historic structures have just caused the cutting away of some of the brownstone trimmings in the interest of public safety. The old red-brick build-|p.4 ing, in the French Renaissance style, at Seventeenth street and Pennsylvania avenue, occupled for many years by the United States Court of Claims, was originally built for the Corcoran Art Gallery. James Renwick was the archi- tect. Eleven exterior niches encirclini this building at the second-story level were formerly occupled by statues of sculptors and artists, executed by M. Ezekiel. This bullding was completed in 1859, but was not opened to the public as an art gallery until 1873, because it was taken over during the Civil War for use by the Quartermaster General's Depart- ment. The Coust of Claims was established by act of Oongress in 1855 and had general jurisdiction over all claims founded on the Constitution of the United States or any act of Congress, except for pensions, and on any con- tract with the Government. The court has been given specific jurisdiction over claims reaching into billions of dollars growing out of the World War. Among the famous claims adjudicated in this court were the French spoliation claims and those arising out of the Civil and Spanish-American Wars. This court has an interesting gallery of portraits of famous American jurists. For many years the benches used in this court were those originally .made for the United States House of Repre- sentatives when it first occupied what is now Statuary Hall at the Capitol. Recently some of these were taken back to the Capitol and are now in fhe ro- tynda. Such famous statesmen as Dan- iel Webster, Henry Clay, John Ran- dolph and John C. Calhoun occupied these benches during the heydays of their careers. It was recently discovered that it was necessary to chisel off loose portions of the brownstone trim of this historic structure, which threatened to fall Time has proved that the builders put these stones in wrong. Instead of plac- ing them so that the seams would be horizontal they were set up.perpendic- ularly, and successive rain, snow, ice, freezing and thawing for many years have eaten into the stones, so that por- tions of them were on the verge of falling. Two large bronze lions, cast from molds made over the famous lions by Canova at the tomb of Clement XIII in St. Peter's in Rome, ornamented the entrance, but have since been removed to the new Corcoran Art Gallery, where they now guard the entrance. — s The Problem Once Removed. From the Omaha World-Herald. A unique way to settle the Chicago baby mix-up would be to let the young- sters grow up and pick their parents. is at the lowest level in 40 years. It is being sold in some sections at 6 cents & pound, as against 16 last year. * o % % ‘Warnings have been broadcast of the danger of forest fires. In the wooded country, if a fire gets beyond control this year it is likely to duplicate the catastrophe of the Pacific Northwest in 1911, when the smoke from the flames spread 1,500 miles inland over the Rocky Mountains and hundreds of leen were lost and millions of damage lone. A dro) match or cigarette may cost miles of trees that it took 300 years to grow. A scuffed hobnail shoe start a fire. One of the chief rces of forest conflagrations is the displacement by man or beast of a stone, which rolls down a hillside, strikes a plece of flint and throws a spark into dead leaves or dry moss. (Copyright. 1930. SIMPLIFICATION BY FREDERIC The United States Government is taking & hand In producing what promises to constitute a fresh cycle in the ancient art of type designing. This time the action is not for the purpose of producing new and unusual type faces but to weed out some of in general use in American printing establishments. This move is being made in connection with the work on simplification and standardization with which the Department of Commerce has been busy for the past few ye: Since the earliest days of type indeed before movable type was in-| vented in the Occident—men have shown the most anxious concern over the designs of type faces. It appears | that there always has been a desire | to make the very letters by which words | are made and thoughts expressed ex- hibit as much beauty as the ingenuity and artistic genius of innovators could produce. Inevitably this has resulted in the modern world, which whirs to the| sound of never-ceasing printing presses, | having an embarrassing accumulation of type faces from which to choose. In this situation the Department of Commerce and leaders in the printing trades seem to feel that the time has come to simplify matters. This does | not mean that the Government is set ting out arbitrarily to dictate to print- ers what types they are to use. In/ the first place it has no_authority to | pursue such a course. In all of its| simplification procedure it merely has | acted as a sort of clearing house to ! bring manufacturers together for the | purpose of arriving at a program under Government auspices. The Govern- ment is the fusing agent. In most| businesses it is difficult to achieve com- | plete co-operation among competitors. | The underlying reason for simplifica- | tion is to prevent undue waste and duplication. ~ In this matter of type, for example. With so many faces of type it is necessary for type founders | to keep a large amount of metal tied | up in the form of finished type so that they may have a wide variety on hand | at all times to meet the calls of printers. | Some little-used design of type might | not be called for in years, yet a LYPC | nate black letter. founder would feel it necessary to have it on hand lest his prospective cus- tomer, failing to get a supply on short notice, depart with his business to a competing founder. Concerted Action Vital. That is the general theory of all the | simplification work. Sizes of all man- | ner of objects in commercial use have | been cut down with tremendous saving to all concerned. However, it is im- | perative to get complete agreement | among members of any industry seeking simplification. If only a few 80 into-a scheme, their competitors will | attract some of their business. All must agree that they will definitely ! abandon stocking certain designs and sizes whether it be of bricks or print- ing type. This is the first time simplification | has verged so strongly on an artistic | fleld. These styles and sizes of tools, | office equipment, of tin cans, of all| manner of commercial articles have | been simplified. This effort is different; it enters a new field. Yet as the print- | ing industry is one of the biggest in the country and has purely mechanical aspects following ‘on the artistic work, it has been thought well to look into the matter. The advantage is wholly IN TYPE STYLES J. HASKI commercial, It brings prices to the consumers down. When it is not neces- sary for a dealer to carry a big line of varieties, nis overhead is diminished. The customer who wants, for example, a simple, everyday type has to pay, effect, a part of the cost of the special - fancy type ordered by another cus- tomer, under existing conditions. There is in the printing industry & body known as the National Beard on Printing Type Faces, and already it has been in touch with the Depart- ment of Commerce. The board repre- sents printing interests producing books, magazines, newspapers and ad- vertising matter. The ‘dea of the function of this board is “to ment on all new type faces o either domestic or [orelgn sources and to recommend such faces as are In their judgment of value to the art of typography.” Tt would seem that such a body, already existing in the indus- try, would be well situated to ceal with | the Government in bringing about this reform. However, all of these simpli- fication procedures move :'owly; there e s0 many elements to bring into agreement. It is interesting to mote how the idea of letter reform goes back to the days of scroll writing before the t{ime of the Gutenberg Bible. In the Middle Ages black letter was used wherever scrolls were writlen. Not many per- sons could write at all, but those who could employcd only black letter with, of course, variations in the way of ini- tial letter: d other crnamentation in the illuminated manuscripts. First Letter Reform. ‘The first reform came in 1425 when an Itallan named Niccolo Niccoll set up at Florence a school of copyists, in- venting for their instruction and use & new letter. It was a much more deli- cate letter in design, had more curves in it, was more open, and gave to the page a less black and blurred look. This letter, known as the neo-caroline, be- came very popular with the scholars and princes and patrons of art of the time and worked a deep-sunk reform which was destined almost to elimi- Indeed, the scholars, | by way of identification, began refer- | ring to the old black letter somewhat | derisively as gothic, meaning, of | course, barbaric. We still employ a type called gothic by printers, and it is somewhat reminiscent of the heavy bl:ck letters. t was not until 1454—a generation later—that Gutenberg pnnuu' the first book from type. From that time on type faces were experimented with and as much care spent on designs as upon such artistic work as portrait painting. Printing became the world's newest a Printers sprang up in Venice and Germany and Spain. Type designers' names became known .mf' their work recognized as a high form of art. Such names as Jenson, Aldus, Garamond and Caslon still stand for much in the printing world and represent work done centuries ago, but which still stands. Giambattisa Bodoni of Parma was the first of the so-called moderns, early in the eighteenth century. Then came | Didot and Baskerville and finally in the nineteenth century Willlam Morris, the English poet, essayist and worker in wood. In this country Elbert Hub- bard, inspired to a considerable extent :yy]:om.. produced some original type Two Million Are Idle in England| BY A. G. GARDINER, England’s Greatest Liberal Editor.. Fifty Years Ago In The Star LONDON, August 9.—This week the Ministry of Labor announced that the unemployment figures have passed the 2.000,000 mark. Apart from the period ' of the general strike, this is the highest reached since the war and all omens point to a serious extension of unem- | ployment owing to the ceaseless decline | trade returns The blackest spot in the country is in Lancashire, where 50 per cent of the looms are idle and, owing to the col- Fifty years ago William E. Gladstone, premier of England, was dangerously ill Gladstone’s 71, Fears that he wouid Illness. not survive were ex- ressed in The Star of August 4, 1880: “In ize, event of Mr. Gladstone's ‘delt.h or withdrawal from active poli- | tics, who will take his place at the head {of the government angl as leader and lapse of the Eastern market, especially | director of the Liberal party? That is the Indian, no revival is anticipated. ‘The prestige of the Labor govern- ment is shattered by this failure to arrest the movement and the failure to | fulfill the election promise that it a.one a policy which would bring a re- vival of trade. During Labor’s first year of office unemployment nearly doubled and much bitterness was expressed in regard to the extension of the dole system, which is largely responsible for the increase in the unemployment figures. * kK * ‘The industrial Insurance system is now completely insolvent. The deficit exceeds 50,000,000 pounds sterling and it is increasing by leaps and bounds. This deficit falls on the taxpayer and the prospects of repayment are negligible. This, taken in connection with the deepening depression of industry, is creating grave concern in regard to the national finances. It is improbable that Philip Snow- den's new measures of taxation will achieve anything like the expectations of the budget. While industrial insurance has been invaluable in steadying the country through the post-war misfortunes, grow- ing indignation is felt at the widespread abuse of the dole. The effect of lax a question of great moment to the party, and in attempting to find a suc- cessor for Gladstone the Uben‘a will learn his true value, if they have not appreciated it heretofore. There is a trying time for the new the immediate future. There are diffi- cult questions rela to the adminis- tration of internal affairs to be deter- mined, like the Irish compensation bill I‘lnd the new taxes. In the foreign office the Afghanistan War, the Greek frontier question and the situation of affalrs in Turkey present matters for the gravest consideration. Without the ilbfllt}' of Gladstone to guide them the | Liberals may shipwreck their party upon | these difficult problems.” | This apprehension was not wholly }j\.\stm!d. Gladstone remainsd in active | duty for 14 years longer and his death did not occur until 1898. * * - Maudlin sentimentality over law- | breakers is not a new manifestation. | It in evidence 50 Sympathy for yel:ll"uo 1o & marked Criminals. degree. The Star of August 5, 1880, says: “Balbo, the young Italian who mur- administration has been to develop a |dered his wife in the dead of night and class who aim to live systematically on the public funds. * K % X Harvesting _operations are suffering | widespread disability owing to the fact that the harvesters, by a little manipu- lation, can get &s much money by loafing as by working. The male hop pickers have practically disappeared from the Kentish hop flelds. It is a grotesque paradox that while hundreds and thousands of women are on the dole, there was never such a famine of labor for domestic service, One of the worst features of the system is encouragement of idleness among boys, who automatically come on the dole if unemployed and whose parents in num- berless cases find it pays the family better to have them out of work than in. 1t is undoubtedly these factors which have largely contributed to the sensa- tional rise in the unemployment fig- ures, and they explain the difficulty of getting a certaln sort of labor. The dole, in fact, has provided an alterna- tive career, and abuses in connection with it are admittedly one of the causes of the disquieting condition of the trade of the country, which staggers under a burden of impossible taxation and overhead charges. * x ox % “There is an insistent and growing de- mand for a drastic revision of the dole | which is becoming a serious' system, menace to the state, not merely finan- cially, but morally, by the creation of @ large wastrel class who from their youth up are parasites on soclety. But an even larger 1uauuon ass0- ciated with the present gloomy outlook is that of wages. The price of com- modities has fallen 25 per cent since 1924, but wages are practically un- changed. It is this disparity which is chiefly responsible for the handicap of British trade in titd markets. German, Belgian and ‘wages arp 40 per cent below the English stand- ard, and the irony of the situation is that it is the sheltered callings, which are not subject to world competition, that have the highest level of wages. Municipal road sweepers, tram conduc- tors and such like keep their places and their war standard of wages, while en- gineers, textile workers and trained ar- tisans are largely unemployed owing to the high cost of production. If.high wages were accompanied by increased output, the problem might be solved, but that is not the case, and the ques- tion is how long trade union resist- ance to economic facts can be main- tained in the face of declining indus- trial activity. (Copyright. 1930.) | then fled with such of her possessions | as he could turn into money, will pay | the forfeit of his crime upon the gallows in New York City tomorrow morning. Balbo committed a brutal and cowardly | crime, but there is nothing in the trial, | conviction and condemnation in his case | to distinguish it from others of the same | kind, except the marked evidence of the | growth of an overstrained sentimentality |on the part of the public. As in the case of Chastine Cox, Balbo has been visited daily by scores and hundreds of | both sexes, who vie with each other in ;snowerms attentions upon him. The choicest flowers were kept fresh in his cell and his palate was regaled with the rarest delicacies, the gifts of new-found friends, who no doubt will be unable to jexplain their admiration for or sympa- thy with the criminal. Such attentions as these were entirely new to the con- demned man. He had lived as an out- cast, upon whom prior to his imprison- ment nobody wasted any thought or sympathy. His crime seemed to have made him a hero or martyr, deserving i commiseration and care instead of con- | demnation and punishment.” * * x “An old politician is quoted as saying ‘-me day of the orator is past,’ and the " fruit The Passing ruit of his "m-""rh”f of Oratory. ", ewspaper | takan upon itself the duties formerly | imposed upon the orator, and the people appear to be decidedly pleased with the change. But a few years ago ‘grand’ barbecues and fleld days of oratory con- stituted the chief feature of a political campaign. Now it is difficult to get out a respectable sized audience to hear tme political discussion between distinguished leaders. The man who has been en- | gaged at business all day takes his rest at home in the evening, secure in the ! knowledge that if the discussion con- | tains any good points he will find the) in his newspaper next day. The news- papers of the d.l{ are the first to give intelligence of all political movements | and incidents, and orator must nec- | essarily thresh over old straw. Even in | Congress, where our most brilliant men are found, the day of oratory is pact. | The real work of Congress is done chiefly in the quiet of the committee room, and only on rare occasions can the galleries of eluurl:au? h’mmry the an- nouncement of a forthcoming speech. The Republican and Democratic com- mittees, in the ent of cam- Paign. place more reliance upon the dis- tribution of sensible ! than upon the out of The new: the orator.”