Evening Star Newspaper, August 18, 1930, Page 8

2] 5 MONDAY, AUGUST 18 1930. A8 THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTO : THIS AND THAT WASHINGTON, D. MONDAY.......August 18, 1930 THEODORE W. NOYES.. The Evening Star Newspaper Company 11th 8t !.ullnbsl (lmlc!' R nsylvania Ave l'l"car 42nd St. ‘N0 Office Michigah Butldine. uropean Office: 14 Re‘rem St., London. Ensland. Rate by Carrier Within the City. R. Jrenine Btar. . .. oaia e ver month e Evening and Sunday Star (when 4 Sundays) . The Evening and Sunday Sar (when 5 Sundays) The Sunday Star . ... Sc per copy Collection made at the end of ach month. iders P4 be sent n by mail or .elephone ional 3 60c per month Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. v and Sund All Other States and Canada. i 15r..$12.00: 1 mo.. $1.00 | 1yr. $8.00° 1mo., isc iy on'y $3.00: 1 mo. 80c unday oms L0 Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news cls- therwise cred- special dispaiches herein are aito veserved. == - Safeguarding a Priceless Gift. ‘Washington is nearing the end of an- other Summer, an extraordinarily hot and dry one at that, and is still making good resolutions about the fine system of municipal bathing pools that some day will be built. But as far as the pools are concerned, Washington is not much better off now than it was when Con- gress decided to legislate the Tidal Basin beach out of existence and to build, in its stead, Jarge bathing pools located at strategic points throughout the eity. The bathing pool program has been amended and knocked about between the various agencies concerned with the Capital, and while it is still in existence | it is only on paper. ‘The pools should be built. Their con- | struction is expensive, and when the system is completed it will be inade- | quate, But they should be built, never- | theless, to take care of the small pro- portion of the city’s population that can enjoy them. In the meantime it is interesting to speculate on why the city must spend over a million dollars on an inadequate system of artificial pools instead of making full use, for bathing purposes, of the beautiful river that forms one of its great natural assets. Back in 1890 a group of engineers investigated pollution of the Potomac and decided that unpurified sewage | could be discharged into the river from the city without causing offense, even though the city attained a population of 800,000 Washington’s population in 1890 was 230,000. Even the 486,000 who live here now probably seemed, at that time, a long way ahead. And while the city proper is still more than 300,000 below that “dead line,” set in 1890, the population of Washington and contiguous Washington that sends sewage into the river is nearing the mark fast. Pollution of the river may not now be offensive. It is probably not dan- gerous, in so far as it affects public health. But it is obviously growing worse as the population using it for drainage increases. It is now con- sidered unfit to bathe in. And if river pollution is regarded as a condition found everywhere, there is no reason to regard it as a condition that must continue to exist snd to grow worse. ‘Washington is not, of course, the only offender. By construction of an ex- pensive disposal plant, this city could eliminate the impurities, the source of which is in the District and the suburbs. But that is not the question. Even if eventual removal of pollution requires the combined efforts of Maryland and Virginia and of the District for the next quarter of a century or longer, the time to begin is now. ‘The proposed survey of river pollu- tion, to be undertaken by the United | States Public Health Service, is the natural first step in gathering the facts regarding the actual degree of pollu- tion now existing. Opinion seems to be divided on that question. But, with the | facts in hand, the Federal agencies now | planning the future of the Federal City should take the lead in the conferences between the jurisdictions involved, and in the formulation of a program for the elimination, for all practical purposes, | of harmful pollution. ‘The river is a priceless gift. Its| value will increase with the years. In- telligent and organized effort should be directed toward making full use of it. ‘The time will come when dumping sew- age in a river will be regarded as a medieval custom, surviving by a few years the now not so ancient practice of relying on the pigs that roamed the streets to keep the gutters free of gar- bage. — e The famed Leaning Tower of Pisa is %0 be halted in its tendency further to | inerease its angle of inclination, ac- cording to dispatches from Italy. It is supposed by some that Sig. Mussolini will speak to it firmly. Then some, day, when he s not too busy, he will have 8t straightened. —— e ‘The Duke of Norfolk is recovering from a severe injury incurred at a polo match. It runs in the family: one of his ancestors was ‘mown from John 0'Groat’s to Land's ks as “Jockey of Norfolk.” ——t et Housecleaning at Atlantic City. ‘When & motor car turned over on & New Jersey road about two months ago and Mayor Anthony Ruffu of Atlantic | City was killed there may have been some uneasiness on the part of the free and easy members of that community lest in the readjustment of municipal affairs * disturbance would be caused. 'They were not reassured when Harry Bacharach, a banker, member of a fam- ily noted for its vigorous political ac- tivity and integrity, took office as municipal chief. Mayor Bacharach did not act at once in the direction of municipal housecleaning, but took a little time to look about him and find out who was who in the administration and what was doing on the Boardwalk, within the twilight zone of permissive illegality or in the actual area of down- right lawlessness. A few days ago he began to move and his doings have caused a great rumpus in the seaside plsyground city. Establishments that ‘,m s “sinks of iniquity” have raided and closed, . Racketeers N ¥ * 65¢ per month | clined visitors have been driven out of town. Certain of the officials of the municipality have been asked to re- sign because of suspected collusion with the lawless ones. Some of the unde- sirable folks have been physically de- ported, taken out in motor cars and “dumped” outside of the municipal boundaries. This process has not pleased the neighboring communities to which the donations were made, but Mayor Bacharach is deaf to all pleas for a let- ap in his home sweeping. His philosophy appears to be that each town must dis- pose of its own refuse. Folks who are fond of occasional sojourns at Atlantic City for the sake of its ocean frontage and wonderful beach and its refreshing air and its entertainments will in the purge it of the crooks and swindlers iand strong-arm fraternity brethren who have of late years been making it & place of horror. ———— Endurance Flights. It is quite unfortunate that commer- cialism should enter so strongly into the fine endurance refueling record just established by Dale Jackson and Forest O'Brine. Although the fiyers them- selves deny the statement of their manager that they would have been “saps” to stay up any longer in view of the lack of public financial support and claim that a faulty motor alone was responsible for bringing them to earth, the commercial end of the en- terprise has been unduly stressed since they broke the record of the Hunter brothers. And in this respect it is sig- nificant that the Hunters, whose recocd Jackson and O'Brine have just bettered, state that they are the losers by at least a hundred thousand dollars because of the latest successful effort of the vet- eran endurance pilots. Of course, it takes money to finance a refueling flight, the expenses being estimated at about one thousand dol- lars a week to keep a plane in the air. But just why a community should be called upon to finance such projects and just what benefit a community might be supposed to get from them is difficult to understand. On the con- trary, it is the manufacturers of the { various parts of the plane, makers of the fuel that has been used and the pilots themselves who reap the reward of a successful flight, and they by all logic should be the ones to support it. If the oil companies, the engine com- panies or the plane companies do not get enough advertisement from a flight or are not willing to chip in to put such a project across purely for re- search purposes, ceminly\ the public cannot be expected to pay and pay and pay. Perhaps it is as Jackson and O’Brine say, that a cracked crank case necessitated their coming to earth. If this is the case, however, they should silence their marager, who laments the fact that citizens of St. Louis would not support the venture and that it was silly under these circumstances for the fiyers to continue, Endurance flying has a very definite place in the advancement of aviation. It is a fine test of plane, motor and man. But if it is to be put solely upon a commercial basis, like a long-sustained vaudeville show where admission is to be charged, much of its scientific value is lost. If, as their manager says, Jack- son and O'Brine came down because of lack of public financial support, it is very much like the case of an actor who refuses to continue in the play unless he receives his pi Endurance flying should never be conducted under such conditions. Leaving all this aside, however, the new record just established is an im- pressive one, and the two pilots richly deserve the congratulations that have come to them from all parts of the world. To stay aloft for twenty-seven days cooped up in a stuffy cabin is no child’s play, in fact it is a wearisome and disagreeable task, and, whatever else may be said, persistence, skill and cour- age were the main factors of its suc- cessful conclusion. — . Wheat lying loose on the ground out West is reminiscent of an earlier day when splendid corn on the ear was fed into cook stoves simply because there was no market for it. Al the magical modern improvements in transportation and in marketing are futile when Jupiter Pluvius averts his face. Mankind must then face funda- mentals, just as did his savage for- bears. -t That Interrupting Buzz, Those who sit at their ease in their | living rooms or libraries at home and listen to the entertainment and instruc- tion emanating from their radio loud speakers rarely think of the most val- uable use to which this marvel of the ether is put, the use, indeed, to which it was originally put in its first practical development. Once in a while they may hear the intervening snappirg buzz of an “S O 8" or emergency call, and programs are interrupted while signals are exchanged from shore to ship, or from ship to ship, or from ship to shore. In most cases these listeners, safe on land, are annoyed by the loss of some of their favorite performances through the air. Occasionally they complain to the broadcasting companies of such in- terferences. Perhaps a realization of what the radio means to those who are isolated it sea by some misfortune will be effect- ed by the accounts of the saving of the company of the steamship Tahiti in the South Seas, without the loss of & single life. It is mot an extraordinary story, Just one of the occasional sea adventures in which the wireless figures nowadays. But it 18 worth noting to remind the Iand-bound radio addicts that their plaything is after all chiefly valuable for an entirely different purpose than entertainment. The Tahiti was steaming along in good shape bound for San Francisco from Wellington, New Zealand, when, some five hundred miles off Rarotonga, one of the Cook Islands, her starboard propeller broke and she lost the screw. The break caused a breach in the skin ot the ship, through which the water poured in greater volume than the pumps could handle, and the vessel be- came quite disabled. Her radio sent forth calls for help. They were heard by many ships, and two of them bent from their courses and speeded toward the crippled craft. One, a small Nor- wegian tramp freighter, got there first, wre kmown im the language of fervid | but was incapable of handling so large | Uncle Eben. & number of people as those the Tahitl. She stood ship arrived, smd o main applaud the mayor's efforts to | ferred the 317 passengers and crew of the Tahitl, Some of the mails were lost in the transfer, but no one was in- jured. The Ventura stood by until the Tahiti sank, half a dozen hours later. Thus by a narrow margin were these people saved. They might have got away from the disabled ship by smaj | boats, but some of them would surely { have perished before aid reached them. But for the radio the plight and fate of the Tahiti would not have been known until a passing ship chanced to sight one of the boats adrift in that vast expanse of sea. | This is but one of many cases of its kind. It is well worth thinking about !so that when next the radio program is checked for code it will not cause re- | sentment for the brief loss of enter- | tainment of perhaps dubious quality. e Pioneers, Prairie Fires and Planes. Gray-haired Americans who in their youth forty and fifty years ago resd stories of the pioneering days and the covered-wagon trek across the Western ! plains will remember tales of how the | prairie fires were fought by back-firing, how the wagons were drawn in line and little blazes were started to clear a space over which the onrushing firc could not leap. Somectimes this was successful, and again it falled and lives were lost. Just so settlements were often saved from the flames by hack- firing against the flery onset driven by the wind. Now a new method has been developed, a method that could not have been used in the pioneering days for a very simple reason, because there was no means of “raising the wind” at will. It is reported from Riverside, Calif, to the War Department that when a prairie fire started to sweep across March Field, a large airport, some of the Army aviators ran their planes out to the edge of the fire and, turning on their propellers, held the blaze at a sufficlent distance to enable emergency squads to extinguish it. If the wagon trains of the early days had had a few planes to baffle the grass blazes, they would have been in no peril. But then, if they had had such means of transportation, they would not have crawled across the prairies at a snail's pace. One thinks with some measure of pity of the plodding pio- neers who spent months in crossing the continent when the record of Capt. Hawks, who flew from coast to coast in & little more than half a day, is recalled. e Nine young men, employes of the New York Stock Exchange, have gone to Peekskill to compete on the State rifle team. That is a good showing. But just think, were it permitted, what rifle and revolver teams a first- class penitentiary could turn out! Not to speak of efficient machine gun units. ———e—— ‘The secretary of the Board of Prison Trustees of New Hampshire has re- celved a letter from a convict in the State prison asking for golf clubs, “both right and left handed.” He thinks they want them for golf. If he will take advice he will substitute ping-pong, or deck tennis, with its soft rubber rings. e A Paris correspondent sends word here that bedspreads of fur, ranging from rabbit for those in moderate cir- cumstances to ermine for the very wealthy, have been put out by furriers. Not interested. Call again in No- vember, ———— The vast crop of Indiana authors have something to build their plots around now sure enough. e SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. A Reminder, Never mind de weather; Dat's de good old song. All jine in together And he'p de tune along. ‘When de rain was fallin’ All along de line ‘Wa'n't you loudly callin’ Foh de sun to shine? When de sun was shinin’ An’ de air was warm, Wa'n't you jes' a-pinin’ Foh a thunderstorm? Honey, stop yoh frettin’; Don't you weep no mo’, *Cause you's allus gettin’ What you been a-axin’ foh. His Idea. “What is your idea of a true patriot?” “A true patriot,” answered Senator Sorghum, “is a man whose country re- wards his services with a statue instead of a bank account. His Mistake, “It was the old misunderstanding about the last word,” said Mr. Meekton, sadly. “But I thought you always let your wife have the last word?"” “Of course. But on this oceasion I Wwas 80 careless as to go to sleep before she got to it."” A Small Boy's Discovery. ‘What curious things & person learns By studying at schooi! This earth upon its axis turns— ‘This is its daily rule. And that is why at night I sleep Stretched out upon my bed— 1t is the only way to keep Prom standing on my head. A Motto Contradicted. “Pay as you go,” sald the bustling man, “That’s my motto.” “Don't belleve & word of it,” answered the man who is constantly running into debt. “If my paying and golng kept pace, I'd be walking backward.” Sincere Admiration. “Why do you insist on keeping a parrot?” “Because,” answered the lonely man, “I like to hear it talk. The parrot is the only creature gifted with the power of speech that is content to repeat just what it hears without trying to make & good story of it.” Various Objects in Life, | Contrasted motives often lurk ‘Where men are daily found. Some people “go down town” to work And some to sit around. “We doesn’ 'preciate what's free,” said “If 1 oould ehahge folks 10 eemts apiece to look at de moon an’ de stars ev'y night, ‘owm. blocks e [PWE ST BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Calvin Coolidge is being hammered | these days by the smart-alecks who; somehow believe that the obvious ought never to be put into print. | One may feel quite sure that Cal| doesn't give a whoop says about his short daily writings for | the papers, but quietly grins up his | sleeve when he thinks that he is mak- ing more money than ail of his critics put together, in all probability. . | How one feels about stating the ob- | vious depends entirely upon whom one | is writing for. It may not be known | to the general public, but there are two classes of newspaper men, those who | write for other newspaper men and those who write for the subscribers. | Mr. Coolidge, not being a newspaper man, although he is writing for the newspapers, has not yet discovered this course, that every newspaper would | write for the subscribers to his paper, but that is so far from the truth that we now have the spectacle of writers poking fun at a distinguished recruit because he is doing precisely that thing. If one writes for other writers solely, he shrinks from the obvious, because the obvious is not clever, and cleverness # the urge of the hour. To say a thing differently, if no better, than it has been said before— ah! brothers, there we bring a smile of gladness to the bespectacled face of some shrimp whose opinion, after all, does not amount to very much. 0 put “punch” into our utterances —that is the be-all and end-all of too many, no matter who will be hurt in the process, or how much untruth or half-truth garbles the telling. * K X * The “different” might be well enough, if there were not such obvious pa! taken to achieve it. But there are at most not more than half a dozen writers in the United States who really can write “differently” as naturally as breathing. The rest of them are mere imitators. Think back over the rage which ex- isted et one time in the New York papers for the phrase “or what have you.” It got to a point where it was almost impossible to pick up a sheet without finding it one or more times. Each writer, subconsciously thinking of his brethren, patted himself on the back as he appropriately unreeled that phrase at the end of a pet sentence. He knew that it would brand him, among the elect, as one who had passed. So work all the ramifications of this curious frenzy for the “clever.” Direct- ness is frowned upon: simplicity of heart is old-fashioned, righteousness is posi- tively taboo. Nor does it make any difference to this merry tribe that most of the great “hits” which made in the writing world are based upon the old solid vir- tues. These may have plenty of “clev- erness,” perhaps. but it is incidental. ‘Take “Bambl,” the story of the deer, which came from an Austrian writer few years age. Its cleverness lay in its idea, not in the way it was written; the wriitng itself was as simple as the eager- 1y told tale of a child to its mother. * * kX ‘The obvious ought to be stated. No one ought to be ashamed of the obvious, and no one is, unless he has an unfortunate inferiority complex, which makes him afraid of the envious carp- ing of others. The obvious is too much a part of life to be shunned as if it did not exist. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. Senator Borah once railed that the trouble with the Republican party is that it remains “static,” going neither forward nor backward. He said it hadn’t had a new idea since the Eman- cipation Proclamation, or words to that effect. The opening gun fired by the mimeograph battery of “Bob” Lucas, newly crowned executive director of the Republican National Committee, seems to bear out Borah's theory. Lucas’ hot- test shot at the Democrats and the!r calamity howling is that people don't in & quack in a crisis, but rely on the old family doctor. Wasn't it Abe Lincoln in person who advised the country, in the midst of another jam in national affairs, “not to swap horses when crossing & stream”? And isn't Lucas’ quip, as it were, & horse of exactly the same color? Lucas, like Lincoln, originated in Kentucky. Per- haps that geographical fact has some- thing to do with the coincidence that the G. O. P. in 1930 has gone back & couple of generations for & campaign | battle cry. * ok K x Be that as it may, the Democrats in Lucas are unmistakably faced by a two- fisted political swordsman, if his initial thrust is any criterion. There is no lack of punch in his jabs. They seem destined to strike home on many an occasion before the November election puts an end to the duel of words. ‘The Republicans’ argumentative strategy is now revealing itself. For more than a year they let the Democrats utterly dominate the publicity field. The situ- ation recalls the campaign on the West- ern front in 1915 and 1916. During that whole time the Germans banged away at the allies with apparently irresistible fury. All that the French and British could do was to take pun- ishment. But they were getting ready to strike back. Then came the battle of the Somme. It found the allies in possession, for the first time, of over- whelming artillery force, which pro- ceeded to deal destruction to the enemy in devastating fashion, The Germans never definitely regained the upper hand. It looks as if the G. O. P. had at last mobilized all the guns it needs and that counter-attack is now the order of the day. * kK K One of the favorite charges of the wets is that the drys put prohibition over in the United States while 2,000, 000 Americans were fighting in France. A militant organization known as the “American Veterans’ Association,” re- cently launched, has adopted the slo- gan, “We Veterans Working Together Can Do Something About It.” t they purpose “doing about it” is to secure the repeal of the eighteenth amendment. association's na- tional chairman Lieut. Col. L Edmund Bullis of Washington, well known American Legionnaire. He has issued a stirring appeal to all living yeterans of America’s wars to “apply the lessons war has taught us—or- ganization, strategy, determination to win and take our objective.” The newest wet crusaders are moving modestly at the outset. As a first trial of strength, they are essaying to ac- ing dry membe sentatives Louls C. M. Hudson, both blicans, of Mich- jgan—who sre up for re-election this year. * Kk X Henry F. Pringle of New York, whose i y of Alfred E. Smith attracted national attention three years ago, has arrived in Washington at the outset of some Rooseveltian researches. They concern Theodore, not Franklin D. Pringle has pitched his tent in the Library of Congress for several months, while he delves among “T. R.'s” State rs, with a view to discovering new sidelights on the most famous Re- publican President of our time. The Roosevelt cult, Pringle feels, is on the rise, rather than the wane, with the passage of time, and he hopes to turn unsuspected light on the colorful colonel's career. Wik Mrs. Ellis A. Yost of West Virginia, the W. C. T. U. lady who was recently appointed chief of the women's divi- sion of the Republican National Com- | shof mittee, imn't going to be T lonely in Wash- cident with ar- her what any one | to With the millions of words being poured forth daily from all the presses of the world, writing more nearly re- sembles life today than at any time in the long history of man’s futile efforts put himself onto bricks, stone, papyrus, parchment, paper. Writing, at best, is only an attempt. Life has never been put into words. Even the best ordered words, scented with what we agree to call genius, fail miserably to give us the laughter of a child, the smile of a woman in love, the death of a hero. At best our greatest writings are but faint approximations, although we treasure them because they represent the best we have. In this situation the obvious fits, pri- marily because it is obvious. If a writer can, by unforced and unstrained ability, convey the effects of the known by a difference of method, or a seizure upon salient points which may have escaped the eyes of most, so much the better for him and for his readers. But that he should be ordered, upon pain of a few frowns, to strain his mind badly in an effort to please just a few people out of the millions is as absurd as anything might well be. X EE There is, although some of our chief smart-alecks do not seem to know it, & certain pleasure in the reading of the obvious. Does not all writing, even the holiest, become obvious through mere existence? Even Mr. Mencken admits that the poetry of the Bible is the greatest poetry in the world; it has been printed and read so much that it is a tissue of threadbare ideas to all readers of today. Yet no one, one may_venture, can read certain passages In Isalah without receiving & certain combination of pleasure, thrill and exaltation. Yet now there is nothing there but what is trite, obvious, as familiar as an old shoe. A man is obvious, a tree is obvious, an ocean is obvious, yet each contains much more than shows to the eye. A man may hold a dream, a tree untold fruit, a sea a new discovery. Out of & city of obvious walls may come & great war. ‘Why should man shrink from the in- dubitable? Death is very obvious. The pleasures of the senses and the recrea- tions of the mind, are nbvious enough to furnish the theme song for a thou- sand new novels every year. The changes in phraseology are, after all, but part of the universal plot. ‘The cloud pictures which Nature unrolls in the heavens are never alike, but basic- ally they are formed from the same elements. The obvious is too much with us for us to forget it, or to pretend that it does not_exist, or to dare make out that we prefer something utterly new, unknown, unperceived before. ‘The truth is that in books, songs, in life and love, we love the known best, thrill most to the old. Love's old sweet song lulls us to sleep, the old country calls us back home, the scenes of childhood are mever blotted out by the newer charms of strange lands. In the last analysis we are children of the obvious, and he writes best, per- haps, who is brave enough to recognize this and to put it into words, without fear or favor. The little de bark at the heels of the great Newfoundiand, but when they grow up to his stature they realize that he has been eating a very large—and obvious—bone all the time. The Political Mill By G. Gould Lincoln. Emergencies are Herbert Hoover's ‘meat.” He organized and operated the Belgian relief when the war broke out, in 1914.~He was food administrator for the United States later during the same war. When the flood waters of the Mississippi River and its tribu- taries overran parts of several States, he was on hand to organize the relief work there. Since Mr. Hoover became Presi- dent he has been called upon to act in a couple of major emergencies—one brought on by an overplayed stock mar- ket and the other by Nature. In both instances Mr. Hoover has moved wisely and quickly to meet the emergency. In both instances many people have suf- fered. But the suffering would have' been worse if the Chief Executive of the Nation had not taken the leader- ship and brought the resources of the country to the relief of the people. It is quite possible that when it comes time again for the American people to g0 to the polls in a national election they are likely to remember the actual deeds of Mr. Hoover and his ability to meet a crisis rather than criticism which has been heaped upon him by political opponents. P Two years from now the Republicans and the Democrats will both have can- didates in the field for President. There is talk about the possible return of Cal- vin Coolidge to the fleld of politics. ‘The possibility of the nomination of Dwight W. Morrow of New Jersey is discussed. Probably there will be talk, too, of Republicans from the Middle West for the presidential nomination. But Mr. Hoover still appears the best bet of them all for the Republican nom- ination. It is common talk that Mr. Hoover has had bad “breaks” since h came into office. But he is foriunate, after all, to have thes? bad breaks at the outset of his administration. If BY FREDERIC Any reader can get the answer to any question by writing o our Informa- | tion Bureau in WasRington, D. C. This offer applies strictly to informa. tion. The bureau cannot give advice on legal, medical, and financial matters. | It does not attempt to settle domestic | troubles, or undertake exhaustive re- | search on any subject. Write your | question plainly and briefly. Give full | name and address and inclose 2 cents | in coin or stamps for return postage. The reply is sent direct to_the inquirer. Address The Washington Evening Star, | Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. | . Please _desc the color and material of Mrs. Coolidge's dress in the | collection of gowns worn by Presidents’ wives in the New National Museum.— N D. N. A. The dress which Mrs. Coolidge first had sent to the collection was ah ivory or cream brocaded satin. Later this was replaced by a dress of an ex}qulsltz shade of old rose chiffon velvet. Q. What was the name of the famous French horse brought to this country a few years ago to race against American horses?-—F. O. H. A. Epinard was brought to this country in 1924 for three races. The first, at Belmont Park, was won by Wise Counselor; the second, at Aqueduct Park, was won by Lagkin: and the third, at Latonia, was won by Sarazen. Q. Why do the more desirable avenues in Washington, D. C., bear the names of Northern States and the less desirable bear the names of Southern States?—A. W. H. A. When the streets were numbered, lettered. and named in the very begin: ning of the plans for the City of Washe ington, no one knew in which direction the Capital would grow. It was ex- business cheers up, even Senator Cope- land of New York, Democrat, has pre- dicted that Mr. Hoover will be renomi- nated and elected, in all probability. * ok ok ok A month from today all the party primaries for nominating candidates for office will have been held, and the Democrats and the Republicans will be squared away for the campaign which will end with the election of the entire membership of the House and more than one-third of the Senate member- ship. Tomorrow Senator Pat Harrison of Mississippi will be triumphantly re- nominated. Two years ago, when he Was, directing force in the national compaign to elect Al Smith President, there were dirc threats against the genial Senator from Mississippi. But Mississippi, no matter what some of the other Southern States did, remained en- tirely regular in the 1928 national elec- tion and went for Smith by a tremen- dous vote. Purthermore, it is the Demo- crats who opposed Gov. Smith's election who have suffered politically in the South, not those who supported him. That fact, by the way, is giving the Smith boosters—and there are plenty of them—much encouragement. They say that the 1928 campaign was merely a campaign of education. If the wet sentiment is seen to be on the increase in the next two years, the drive to nominate Al Smith in 1932 may be ex- ceedingly strong. Back in October, 1929, Gov. Smith was asked whether he determined not to run for President again. According to the New York World, & strong Smith supporter, Gov. Smith replied: “A man never gets anywhere or ac- the legal division of the Federal Radio Commission, that of “chief examiner.” He took office August 1. Mr. Yost is a brother of the famous “Hurry Ug" Fielding Yost, long time coach of the University of Michigan foot ball team. * kX K ‘William L. Sibert, the Army Engi- neer,” is the title of an arresting bi- ography just produced by Col. Edward Brayton Clark, veteran Washington newspaper man and World War soldier. Maj. Gen. Lytle Brown, chief of engi- neers, United States Army, has written the introduction to the book. Maj. Gen. complishes much if he makes his plans too far in advance. I have never made definite plans for the future. I have never gone about it that way. What I have done has sort of come my Way. I have never determined matters long in advance. You cannot tell what is going to happen in the future, what may occur in between times, and to count on what you will do at some dis- tant time is, to me, silly.” ‘This answer of the former New York Governor is full of common sense. It certainly, however, does not eliminate from the possibility of becoming a candidate for President in 1932. Reports from New York indicate that he is about to step out again & political leader in his own State and, further, that he is to mix up in the national campaign for the election of a Demo- cratic Congress. He is slated, it is said, to go on the radio, perhaps to discuss Sibert was the builder of the Gatun Locks and Dam on the Panama Canal, of the ocean terminal Mobile, and of the Ohio River’s 9-foot channel. He was the organizer and first director of the Chemical Warfare Service of the United States Army and chairman of the board which eventually determined the feasibility of the Boulder Dam proj- ect. Col. Clark writes with the enthu- siasm of the soldiér and the skill of the professional scribe. He himself wouldn't make a bad subject for an inspirational book. In 1915, at the age of 55, he sought and secured active war service in France. T Marlen Pew, editor of Editor and Pub- lisher, bible of all American writing men, has piqued Washington's curiosity with & passing remark about Alice Long- worth. In his ous column, “Shop Talk at Thirty,” Pew recently said: “The best unwritten woman’s story that 1 can think of is the autoblography of Alice. Roosevelt Longworth. 1 have heard that many newspaper men have sought this story for serial publication in vain, Mrs. Longworth having a fixed opposition to the publication of her truly wonderful life, If she ever yields, however, 1 suggest that she be induced %o tell the details of her war experi- ence as & volunteer military intelligence aide One of her exploits was ex- citing, but the story has never been authorized or written.” (Copyright, 1930 ——— Snapshots Useful To One Who Thinks So From the Baltimore Sun. Snapshots are chiefly valuable ih that they justify the possession of cameras. Then there is always the vague possibil- ity that the next batch of pictures may turn out better than the last ones did. Snapshots may be roughly di into two classes, namely, the underex- posed, which give the impression of & photographic message from the spirit world, and the overexposed, in which the subjects resemble Hawailans or other dark-skinned people in Occidental clothing. A py medium may achieved by having the subjects pose beneath trees, thus giving them a mot- tled comj don suggesting some virulent form of plague or pestilence. The best results are accomplished when the person taking the picture stands with the sun coming over the shoulder. In the very nature of the case it follows that the sun will strike directly in the eyes of the persons whose plctures are being taken, This is such & familiar problem that its solution has been worked out. To offset the frown caused by the sun, it is customary request the subjects of -n-nnhma' : persons who to smile may strike jects to handle. When at last they have n persuaded not to turn their backs completely on the camera they will avoid the sun by digging their chins into their chests. Just at ths moment of snapping they may be instructed %o look up, which they will do without re- moving their chins from their resting | places. ‘This is hardly graceful, but it | has to do. After all, a snapshot is only apshot. No matter how many snapshols are taken, there is always just one film left which must be used before the roll can be developed.: It is not unusual to try | this on & “really good” picture of the dog. It remains, by means of signs, coaxings and other indirect methods, to | the explain to the dog that the term “snap- t” 18 not to be accepted in its literal tedious sense, a somewhat turn out so well that Lucas charge and say that the Demo- to y e Dem ‘willing the already much discussed tariff and tell the country what would have been done in the way of tariff revision had the Democrats been successful at the polls in 1928 instead of the Republicans. * ok ok ok Speaking of the increase in wet senti- ment as a factor in politics of the day, “how wet is Vermont?” Harvey M. Drennan, former Mayor of St. Albans and a former State Senator, is running for membership in the House, if he can get the nomination on September 9 as a wet. The Literary Digest poll last syrm‘ showed that Vermont voted 5,711 for continuation of the eighteenth amendment and the Volstead act with- out change, while it voted 5210 for repeal and 4,519 for modification. Mr. Drennan is going to give the people who ‘want a change from the present prohibi- tion laws a chance to register by voting for him. If the repealers and the modi- ficationists really mean what they voted in the Digest poll, perhaps Mr. Drennan will win. * k% x ‘The time limit for withdrawals from the primaries in Massachusetts came o an end Friday. None of the five can- didates for the Democratic nomination for Senator withdrew, nor did any of the candidates of the party seeking the gubernatorial nomination. The Demo- cratic factions are going to the bat on September 16 and in the interim there is likely to be some mudslinging. The Republicans are divided, too, in this primary. William M. Butler is seeking the Republican nomination for Senator as & dry and Eben Draper as a wet. The liquor question does not particularly bother the Democrats in Massachusetts. It is estimated that 95 per cent of the Democratic voters are wets and the rest drys. On the other hand, it is figured that 60 to 65 per cent of the Republi= can voters are dry, with 35 to 40 per cent wet. The situation makes the liquor question decidedly more of & handicap to the Republicans than it does to the Democrats. The Massachu- setts voters are to be asked this Fall to Yote in a referendum on repeal of the “baby Volstead act,” the State enforce- | ment law. * o % ‘The Republicans, through Robert H Lucas, executive director of the party’s national organization since the retir ment of Claudius Huston and the sub- stitution of Senator Fess of Ohio as chairman, are charging the Democrats with seeking to make the stock market crash, unemployment and business de- pression political issues in the coming campalgn. The Democrats, through Senator King of Utah, denounce the crats are to help iy tyb:fl mmm “'m:m the B one average in- knows that on business degrunm ent, and probably the 1p them win the con- the can Re- things to help put them back into con- trol of the Congress. | FRR It is economic conditions, rather than | political issues of Government, which | win elections these days. If a man has| plenty of monéy in his pocket, he is not likely to turn out the Government. If, on the other hand, he has no mone: he demands a change in the control o Government, whether such a change is really capable of helping him or mot. The Democrats know that, and so do . Mr. Lucas is mu:hly pected, in fact, that the city would grow toward the east and south. It actually happened that the city grew more rapidly toward the north and west. Some of the avenues which now run through somewhat undesirable sections of the city are so located that as the plans for the city's improvement are executed they will be perhaps the most beautiful of Washington’s streets. An example of this is Virginia avenue, which at no very distant time will pro- bably be one of the most beautiful streets. It is doubtless true that the streets around the Capitol were named first and the States for which they were | named were those belonging to the Union at that time. Q. Does Florida produce minerals?— T. A. 8. A. There are minerals in Florida, principally phosphates, lime, limestone, kaolin, and fuller's earth, Q. How many men lost their lives in the airship Shenandoah—D. S. E. A. There were 14 men killed in the crash of the dirigible Shenandoah. Q. Which city is larger, Sydney or Melbourne, Australia?—R. H. A. The population of Sydney is 1,101,000; of Melbourne, 975,160. . Where did traders get all the lass beads which were traded to the dians?—L. H. A. The first ones were brought from Europe, but in 1621 several Italian glass- workers were imported to manufacture beads for the Indians. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS J. HASKIN. male from the female _;n%nn( bird by fact the female sometimes does not sing at all. Q. If a soldier while In camp went to his company's infirmary for treat= ment, how can he find & record of his case?—J. E. R. A. He should write to the surgeon general's office, W Department, Washington, D C. . T wish to be married shortly after Easter next Spring. When will Easter fall?—G. M. A. It will fall on April 5, 1931. Q. Who denl’,ned the baptismal font at u; Washington thedral?— R. G. B. A. Willlam Ordway Partridge de- signed the baptismal font at the | cathedral. Q. What are the names of the Paris subways?—E. O. B. The Paris subways are the Metro A and the Nord-Sud. | | St | Q. How long does it take to get & | letter from Managua, Nicaragua?—J. G A. Air mail comes through to Wash= ington, D. C., in about four days. Q. How many players can a major league club have?—C. F. A. A major league club is permitted to have 25 players on the roll at one time. Q. How long did it take Nellie Bly | to go around the world?—E. J. A. Nellie Bly, the noted newspaper | woman, made a trip around the world to establish a record. She began her trip on November 14, 1889, and ecom- pleted it on January 25, 1890, in 13 days, 6 hours 11 minutes and 14 seconds. Q. Is color biindness hereditary?— P. 5% ’ A. Color blindness generally affects both eyes, the functions of the eyes be= ing otherwise normal, and it is often hereditary. Complete color blindness or the loss of appreciation of colors is almost exclusively seen in acquired color blind- ness, occurring in optic nerve atrophy, although a number of cases of con- genital color blindness has been re- ported. Color blirrdness cannot be cor- rected, as it is a permanent defect. Color blindness confuses red and green only; the other colors appear to be normal. This is, of course, true of color blindness in the ordinary sense, not in total color blindness. Q. What is the nationality of Raquel Meller>—L. W. C. A. She is Spanish. This singer and actress is known as Spain's foremost Jewess, and has been. awarded the order of Alfonso XII by King Alfonso in recognition of her services in 2 fame to Spain. Q. In what sort of accident was the wn‘otlihmel Oliver Curwood killed?— M.E. R. A. He died on May 9. 1930, as & result of injuries received in an atr- plane accident on May 8. He was 19 Q. Is it possible to distinguish the years of age. Emphasis in national comment on the | lynching of two Negro prisoners at Mar- jon, Ind., is placed on the lack of pre- paredness in_the sheriff’s office and on apparent official indifference to the question of prosecution for the mem- bers of the mob. The lynchers were citizens of nearby Fairmount. “The cowardly attitude of the offi- cers of the law, supposed to enforce the peace,” thinks the Wichita Beacon, “probably was in_evidence before the riot took place. They did not.hlnmg to stop the mob. They will do nothing after.” The Milwaukee Journal asks: “Are the white women of Marion safer because a mob happe the outrage and murder than they would be it the law of Indiana had brought its own swift punishment?” That paper adds: “It is all an old story and a very dark one. We make the law and disre- gard the law, and wonder where the country is coming to when its citizens show no t for law.” “One of the chief bases of criticism of Southern communities in similar out- breaks,” recalls the Fort Worth Star- ‘Telegram, “Is the comparative failure of prosecution of members of the mob. Perhaps the Indiana community will show up with a complete clean-up of the mob, with all active members iden- tified, tried, convicted and sentenced. But it is to be doubted. The fact is th: human nature is pretty much the same all over this country. There are crimes ‘which makes less law-abiding citizens of a community desire to take the law into their own hands to punish the perpe- trators, and it matters little whether the scene is In the foll'.h or the North.” * % x Comparing Texas and Indiana, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tells the story ! of the treatment of similar cases in the two States. An Indiana mob tore from jall, clubbed to death and hanged two Negroes who are said to have confessed murdering a white man and assaulting his girl companion, while a few hours later in Texas a Negro, similarly ac- cused and three times courageously saved from mob violence for fair trial and lawful conviction, was duly put to death by electrocution in State prison at Huntsville. We draw no unfair gen- eral conclusions and make no compari- son but the specific one. Texas has lynched Negroes, and so has Indiana; Missouri, too, for that matter. But the obscene spectacle of bestial passion in Indiana almost coinciding with orderly process in Texas, in a parallel case, needs no adding touch to point the moral.” “We are told,” says the Hartford Courant, “that, after the ching, 50 State police officers and other officials armed with machine guns maintained order in the city. This may not have been a difficult task, inasmuch as the mob had already found and killed the prisoners whom it sought * * * The charges would be filed against the lead- ers of the mob. * * * Negroes have charged that the sheriff’s force did not properly protect the lives of the two academic question since, no matter what the law may do, it cannot restore life to the two men who were lynched. We wonder if the State of Indiana is satisfled with the condition of things?” “Gangsters who shoot down each other do much less to destroy law and ey would hlvehrdda;fi.umfu . * X % X 0 party convention this year will be th keener interest than that be held by the Republicans in Albany, N. Y., September 25 and 26. The wet and dry forces in the conven- tion are likely to be quite evenly di- vided. It is reported now that Secte- tary Stimson of the State Department | may be called upon to act as chairman of the New York Republican Conven- 'alon. lSO far, !;el:her the wets nor the rys have Taised a protest against Stimson's acting as convention chair- man. If the Hoover administration in Washington undertakes to influence the action of the convention on the wet and dry ned 'to ‘avenge’ | ers. prosecutor of the county said that no| prisoners, but that is now merely an | Attitude Toward Mob Called Lawless in Indiana Lynching public safety than do lic officials who declare that they will make no ef- punish t violations of law, attorney over in Marion, Ind., is not only public official who has taken 'such an attitude, though few, perhaps; will admit it as frankly,” ac- cording to the Topeka Daily Capital. ‘The Grand Rapids Press points out that “Marion has no race problems worth considering. And it has no place, cer- tainly, for the executive cowardice and callousness which would permit a pros- ecutor to react to this mob offense by a statement to newspapers that no ac- tion would be taken against the lead- * kiR The St. Louis ‘Times declares that “the public officials of Indiana and of Marion and Falrmount cannot overlook the fact that usurpation of the - tives of the court of justice is anar- chy.” The Asbury Park Press, hcg; nizing that “so overwhelming was rejudice that motivated the assault hat even the authorities :&:‘r to be without the courage to )" adds: “Fortunately, education has of recent years reduced lynchings to the vanish- ing point. Occasionally, however, 8 mob like that which has just In- diana breaks loose as & der that the day of general enlightenment has not yet arrived.” The responsibility of the sheriff who had charge of the prisoners is empha- sized by the Gary Post-Tribune, the Springfield Republican and the Shreve- port Journal. The Asheville Times, however, states that the sheriff “seems to have made an honest attempt to do his duty, but he was not ready to meet a determined assault from a hundred | men, urged on by hundreds on the side- lines.” The Incident is described by the g;ktl:‘l‘)d Tribune as a “disgrace to the The ation involved is dwelt upon by the South Bend Tribune, the Baltimore Evening Sun, the Altoons Mirror, the Dayton Daily News and the Minneapolis Star. The Champaige News-Gazette, holds that “the commu- nity cannot differentiate between kinds of lawlessness. If it tolerates one kind, it must tolerate another.” The Wayne News-Sentinel says, “The very fact of the mob and its roar] rage proves that there was such sentiment it the accu: as to have insured that any jury which would have been impaneled in Grant County would have demanded the extreme penalty—but in worthy of the common ;um{-rdl of the beasts of fleld and orest.” “There could be no excuse for such & demonstration of mob psychology.” con- tends the Indianapolis Star, “but there must be reasons for it, otherwise 1t never would have happened. Attorney | General Ogden, in commenting on the | situation, is reported as saving. ‘You |know thev “sow the whirlwind and reap the storm,”' referring to the re- cent bombines in which five people have been killed in Marion. There was more significance in what he said and it was more far-reaching than may seem at first thought. * * * The courts. the members of the bar and the people of the State in general are not without & share of blame in the conditions that made possible the demonstration in Marion. The respect for the agencles of law and assurance of speedy justice that has been placed upon State, but it is not too late to awaken to the truth of what the attornev general sald about reaping the storm if we continue to sow the whirlwind of indifference and ineffectiveness in the administer- ing of justice.” i S o But He Needs Publicity. From the Ann Arbor Dajly Ne It seems a shame to keep arresting & musical comedy producer who was merely trying to save money on costumes. ) Mills Run Red-Headed. " | Prom the Onarlotte News.