Evening Star Newspaper, October 24, 1930, Page 8

{THE EVENING STAR With Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. " #RIDAY........October 24, 1930 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .Editor ' %he Evening Star Newspaper Com h..*.fi;@i‘" PR oy ofe Mg Rty Bl ‘Rate by Carrier Within the City. s Brtning S sinay siars e 20T monn q:w.{m‘lnd . '”l) ‘per month . an yer monthy inday St y month, lephone A '&.hg::zfl,'::.ea s At Sooo: fbusrBoibios Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. ind and Virginia. Eéliy and Bund 17541000 mo. 8¢ ay only "] 1080 1 men 38 All Other States and Canada. L R ay only ¥r, ¥ Member of the Associated Press. Associated Press,is cxclusively entitled \use for republication of all news dis- credited to it or not otherwise cred- he local news rein. All riehts of publication of tches berein are also rererved. Producing the Facts. ‘With commendable foresight the Bureau of Efficiency is preparing in ad- ¥ance for the fiscal inquiry this Winter by revising its 1929 tahle concerning Federal and local participation in financing the Capital. The bureau has Tecelved no request from the Mapes subcommittee that this be done, but it is reasonable to suppose that no in- quiry can be considered complete with- out the valuable data compiled by the bureau’s investigators, and they will be ‘ealled for sooner or later. Interesting light is shed on the bu- Feau's revision of its 1029 figures by a tecent article in The Star which showed that the Government's recent pur- ohases in the so-called Avenue trian- gle have been included in the new es- timates of Federal tax-exempt holdings in the District. The value of land alone in this area, according to an as- sessment valuation furnished by As- sessor Richards, amounts to $17,000,000, Eventually, of course, this will cure itself—which is not of any immediate comfort to the patient. Already, the Department of Commerce finds, there are hopeful signs in some places. But & hopeful phase of the whole situation is that it now is possible to secure such a detalled world picture. It is & primary requisite for a correct diagnosis, The more detalled it is the sounder basis it offers for study in the statistical laboratory. It is at least cer- tain that the problem is not simple, to be solved by inspirations or guesses. The world is an economic whole, its | life forces delicately balanced. Every year it is becoming more and more organized, its parts more and more interdependent. A slight maladjust- ment anywhere ‘may throw the whole economic organism out of balance. Na- tions can no longer live as independent wholes. For that matter, they never could; but hitherto the fact has not been so obvious. Perhaps depression spreads over the world purely by the psychological mechanism of suggestion and the rather than any organic ill of the earth. But it is more comforting to believe in something specific which can be found and remedied, rather than in a vague generality which is to be treated by other generalities. In any event there is a real advance toward understanding in this comprehensive view of the total situation which eould never come from considering the phe- nomenon circumscribed by national lines. i The Five-Year Plan. “Deprecatory dispatches and purring platitudes” ‘to the contrary notwith- standing—to use Dr. Edmund A. Walsh's alliterative phrase—Soviet Russia’s now- celebrated five-year plan is a project, pure and simple, for furthering Com- munism'’s plot for world revolution. The brilliant regent of Georgetown Univer- sity’s Foreign Service School has just inaugurated in Washington his sixth successive series of public lectures on Russia, No man in America speaks with more knowledge or authority on that subject. Dr. Walsh is performing & national service in keeping the search- ‘while the improvements are greatly in light turned in the direction of Moscow’s actual situation is a fulfillment of fears, | theaters and, during tiht avoade st | least, retained it. Pur-hesed by the Government, it was used for the Adju- tant General's Office, but on the morn- ing of June 9, 1893, a great part of the roof and inner structure collapsed, killing outright or fatally injuring twenty-two persons. It has been used since as Government office building, store house and recruiting station, but in the last few years has been accupied only by watchmen. When the Pepco foundations were being dug there was danger that the south wall of the Ford building might cave in, but adequate precautions prevented that. Varlous legisiative proposals have been made for disposing of the build- ing. One recent bill was to make it a club house for veterans. But it is difficult to believe that it can ever serve any useful purpose. It only perpetuates tragic memories and is- hardly worth saving. Its appeal, after all, is more to morbid curiosity than to any real sentiment. ———e— The Stage. Every now and then, for the ‘past quarter of a century, some one has arisen to state that the stage is in no danger of extinction at the hands of the “movies.” Miss Ethel Barrymore, distinguished and beloved actress, is the latest champion. “The people are hungry for the thea- ter,” Miss Barrymore sald. There can be no gainsaying that she is right. The love for the theater is instinct in all Ppeoples; the only question is whether the so-called “legitimate stage” can con- tinue in the face of competition alded by the inventive genius of man. At the present it appears to compe- tent observers that it can. Although stage craft is essentially the same today as it was when Euripides wrote, hu- man nature is the same, too. The human voice is the same, and the powers of personal atfraction are the same. Miss Barrymore represents both phases. There are many lovers of the drama who are willing to believe that as long as the theater presents such players there will be no particular danger of the extinction of the legiti- mate stage. Always in the background of human thought and action lies the rebound, or the return to glie old. The playgoing BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. recline on the side, with the book held with one hand. In this position sleep always wins, | no matter who the author of the book may be. Hours later the reader wakes, the light still burning, th2 book still open. With blinking eyes he goes to sleep in earnest, having read at the most half a chapter. Yet for the person of steadfast de- termination, who is able to keep awake, reading in bed is one of the most de- lightful modes & How do people read physically? The favorite reading positions are sitting and reclining, the former in chairs, the latter in beds. ‘The great bulk of readers read in one of these positions, sanctioned by long usage and common sense. A few stand up to read, others sprawl on the floor on their elbows, after the traditional manner attributed to Abra- ham Lincoln. Most_booklovers are inclined to make themselves as comfortable as possible while engaged in their favorite recrea- tion. Some one has said that one of the factors involved in the popularity of motoring is that it is indulged in while sitting down. 'l'h: same may be said of readin Perhaps 75 per cent of known readers sit in chairs. It is at once the easiest, the most natural, and, all matters taken into consideration, the best way. He or she who loves to read may do so at a longer stretch in a chair than in bed. Every one who has tried it knows the disadvantage of the latter method. One grows’ sleepy! . oee Even too comfortable & chair is some- thing of a handicap, especially at night, the favorite reading time of the Nation, ially after dinner, when diges- tion makes its demands on the blood. Both alimentary and blc:g:e“t'fl“.l depend upon the stream, ml?{etm stomach exceeds that of the brain, the reader will find him- self growing confused before he has gone lhrol;‘kh three chapters, even if they be short ones. l{ is questionable, therzfore, whether even a head rest is best in one’s favo- rite reading chair. The natural reading position is one of ease, muscles relaxed, with the head bent somewhat over the book, and therefore needing no rest. No doubt too much stress l‘t’“ ;;hced formerly upon the necessity for a umilhly bll:‘;o It is a difficult position to maintain while reading, in fact is not called for by the very exigencies of | the case. Elevated feet are another moot ques- tion. In the privacy of one’s own home, there is no real reason why one should not place his feet upon another chair, it he does not mind spoiling the chair, and so long s “l,n does :gz ‘make ;um- self obnoxious to some other person. Men take to the elevated-feet pos! * * % In bed one may eat as well as read. Eating, with some natures, is syn- onymous with reading. Candy, crackers, chocolate and apples —these are the favored foodstuffs for bed reading. They may be utilized, of course, rnd quite often’ are, in sitting reading, but somehow seem to fit in better with reading in bed. Cracker crumbs, for instance, getting between the sheets, are guaranteed to keep any reader from falling asleep be- fore the last chapter is finish>d. Chocolates have a nice, smeary way of getting on the bedcloches. Animal crackers are a lavorite. Apples have no standing with con- firmed bedtime readers, and should be left to cruder souls. * K ok % Some men read standing vp, but they are heroes. Lincoln must have beeh made of stern stuff, indeed, to have placed him- self of his own free will on his stomach and-elbows while reading bis Bible and Shakespeare. Occasionally one will see & limber child doing it now, but not often. It was a pioneer method As for standing up while reading, there s no point to it, except in certain cases, known of old, when sitting down was an unthinkable process. Surely | one must be comfortable while reading | a book. The mind, at its best, s éasily | distracted. One finds an occasional volume, ry now and then, which holds the attention despite all induce- ments to the contrary, but these are the rare books, and differ with every individual. Most books have their dull places, pages which must be waded through with determination, if not with zest. The going is hard, but the end is in ht; soon the hero will appear and will be well again. But if one’s foot goes to sleep, for tion naturally enough, in reading instance, the hero will never appear— favorite detective story. If they sup-|at least not that evening. Banging plement it with = pipe, their reading | doors, radio music, spell defeat to many posture is excellent, from all practical (a reader, although there are others considerations, if not for appearance’ | who say that they read better for the excess of this amount. Thus, applying | sleepless mancuverings for achieving an the bureau’s formula for measuring the | “international dictatorship of the pro- Federal Government’s debt to the Dis- letariat.” trict “as a municipal taxpayer,” the| The lecturer reminds us of something fictitious amount set down as tax rev- | little understood in this country. No enues owing from Uncle Sam would be | single act of the Soviet government, materially increased by the Govern-|which is the creature of the Commu- ment’s large purchases of land and im- | nist party and “directed” by it, accord- provements. In the last report, this|ing %o “Czar” Stalin’s own admissions tax—including personalty and intangi- | to an American labor delegation, is con- bles—amounted to $7,440,939, but the | cetved or carried out except with an eye bureau’s new figures are expected to |upon its international effect. The raise this amount well over a million | autocrats of the Kremlin incessantly dollars. As the Government land pur- |and invariably have “world revolution” chases since 1928 have not been con- |in mind. That, like all their other fined to the Avenue triangle, it is rea- | programs, is the underlying purpose of sonable to suppose that the Bureau of | the five-year-plan for high-pressuring Efficiency has included other land, upon |the “Union of Soviet Socialis{ Repub- to assess the Federal Govern- |lics” into the production by the end of estate taxes, and the land | 1933 of the fabulous total of $42,000,~ triangle. 2 000,000 worth of industrial and agri- point of interest to. the District, | cultural produce. , 15 not the amount that is due| Dr. Walsh depicts this Utopian from the Federal Government merely|project as masking Stalin's “retreat,” 88 a municipal taxpayer. For obvious |just as Lenin resorted to the “Nep" reasons it is impossible to construe the | —new economic policy—to cover the Federal Government—which possesses | failure of the Soviet's earlier economic the exclusive right of legislation—mere- | vagaries. The- Georgetown publicist ly as a municipal taxpayer. And the| ventures no prophecy as to the outcome difficulty of properly assessing the in-lof the five-year plan. If it should fail, tangibles of the Federal Government|it is obvious that Communistic hopes are apparent. But granting, for the|of world revolution would suffer a of the bureau’s survey, thatcrash from which they eould not easily municipal tax owing the District | be revived. The success of the wildest 8,500,000, the balance between this and | bolster up Red visions of eventual con- the $9,500,000 which represented the | quest of “capitalism.” Police Courtesy. ‘The prompt and drastic action taken by the Police Trial Board in the case of an officer who was accused of being dis- courteous and profane to a motorist should have a salutary effect on the few remaining browbeating, “tough” policemen in the department. Charged with engaging in an argument about a trafic violation with the motorist be- cause he claimed that the driver “irritat- ed” him, the policeman, on the recom- mendation of his superiors, was haled just econtribution to the before the Trial Board, promptly con- smount. But if it was represented bY| i1y anq dismissed from the force. | the difference between the lump sum et & fiftice. and the $7,44093 in fictitious Pederal | 1% 72 ® Tstriening task of UL Justoe paid the District, it would have|, .. w4 riuing for courtesy and efficl about & million and s half dollars. | ;10 pojice D 0 Ta bureau’s new figures will probably |y promote these attributes in the men this balance to about & milllon | g honor roll was recently inaugurated dollars, which would demand st least| uricn not only gave special o s half-million dollar increase in the |4, those who deserved it, but a five- lump sum above the $9,500,000 allowed | qollar-a-month increase in salary. At last year, the same time it was announced that Of course, the Federal Government's | offenders of the courtesy rule would to the District on account of the | find no sympathy with their actions. large expenditures occasioned by the| The action of the Trial Board in this fact that this is the Capital exceeds 8 | case makes the campalgn even more million and & half dollars. The point | effective in that it will serve as a warn- that every investigation, impartially | ing to the minority of policemen who undertaken, will produce the facts that | still believe tthat when they don the uni- Justify and demand an increase in the | form they are the monarchs of all they Pederal contribution. Members of the | survey and can “get away” with any- House sccepted the Bureau of Eff-| thing so far as the public is concerned. clency’s report last time by emphasizing | It should not take many more incidents one half of it and ignoring the other | of this sort to stamp out the practice half. It will be enlightening to see how | altogether. they accept the forthcoming report, e ) which, studied in any light, shows an| The funeral of Gen. Weyler was {ncreased contribution to Capital main- | extremely simple There are still liv- tenanee and development due from the | ing snipers of forty years ago who Tederal Government. would have been overjoyed to help him it TN TT 5 4] get full military honors. One church recruit costs ten times PRI as much to enroll as one Army recruit, “ mccording to statements made at a na- tional chureh conference now in ses- sion in Milwaukee. Possibly he is worth that much more. ——— The World Situation. “Misery loves company.” That is about all the comfort to be derived from the review of world busi- ness conditions which came yesterday from the Department of Commerce, based on cable and radlo dispatches from agents all over the earth. From. New Zealand to Western Europe there 48 business depression, unemployment and hardship. Where there are good crops prices are so low that the grow- | the Oldroyd Museum, ers cannot profit from the bounty of |served by Government purchase and nature, It all goes to show that there | will perhaps continue for many years @re underlying causes of the depression | as a sort of patriotic shrine, visited by ‘which affect all nations. It is & world | thousands of Americans. But Ford's is concern. closed, empty and dark, filled only with another matter. They are buried deep- | the memories of death. 1y in the complexity of economic forces. | The building was three years While they remain active, however, | when Lincoln was assassinated, and be eured. The local What Is Its Future? | new plant at Tenth and E streets and the dull, somber- weils of old “Ford's Theater” provide an interesting study in contrast between the modern office structure and a building that sizty- eight years ago was regarded as one of the finest in town. Progress is gradu- ally surrounding the theater, but it still remains isolated by the grim and tragic record of its past. What is to be done with it? How long will it stand there? Across the street the Peterson house, in which Lincoln died and which has ‘The glistening white stone of Pepco's | “ » | sake. world may hustle Hhainly to the “talkles” | SBKE o 0 et erullers into one's at this period, for they are new, inter- | . mee is certainly'not a very elevating esting, breezy, but as surely as the | sight, for some reason or other, but stage keeps to the human heart and | those who do it find it a satisfastory mind, theatergoers will incline to re- | method of eating. turn to it, and keep. it a living force G eek it with reclining, of course :n:u:nd " e per- | e O iiclined 1o o to, slecp. Even the most exciting story finds the competition with sleep an unfair one. But if one can keep awake, reading in bed is very comfortable. Perhaps the best way is to prop one's self up with pillo and therefore to read sit- ting up, after all, 1!he warmth and quiet of bed, how-’ ever, has its somnolent qualities. It is| difficult to keep from nodding. In| such an emergency & favorite trick is to ———— Notables arriving in Abyssinia for the approaching coronation are wel- comed by official bands playing the proper respective national anthems. It is not known how good brass bands of that country are, but it is a fairly good bet that some of the arrivals. would have preferred the Abyssinian maid playing o her dulcimer, described by Coleridge, ————————————— Of all brands of crimirals the fire- bug probably gets more actual enjoy- ment out of his offense than any other. And those who have the sentencing of him should remember to make him pay well for his fun. ‘That the Hoover administration is | the paramount issue the 1930 cam- ign has always been the claim of the 'mocratic National Committee. But it has for Claude G. Bowers, Houston Convention keynoter, to give open and official utterance to that view. The New York editor-historian broad- cast last night a frontal attack on the Hmmmnmnnnufleot"’rhem * The accept 1ssues congressional campaign. They contend that the time to put H trial before the bar of public opinion will ‘' be 1932. The achievements or fallures of & G. O. P. Congress, say Messrs. Fess, Lucas, Wat- son, Moses et al, are the things, and the only things, on which the voters, in el a new House and Senate, should be called upon to express ju t. * % * % Evidently President Hoover’s refusal to intrude himself into the campaign— Gifford Pinchot to the contrary not- withstanding—is based on this theory. 1t is, nevertheless, a fact that in count- less House and Senate fights all over the country Republican candidates haven't hesitated to trot out their “support of the administration” as a good reason for giving them return tickets. As far as anybody knows, Mr. Hoover has confined his “interference” in the campaign to two instances. Early in the e he wrote a letter to a Ten- nessee blican member of the House Representatives publicly thanking Ethel Barrymore declares that the public is hungry for stage plays. Sure, but, as on any restaurant menu, those $4.40 and higher items make one stop, | consider and order beans. - —————— General, aged and stately monarch of the city park buffalo herd of Den- ver, has passed on. When he gets to wherever good buffaloes go, he will have plenty of company. —————— A jury panel struck by a flock of challenges is about as thorough a wreck as is a door panel riddled by a load of buckshot. SHOOTING STARS, BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Ambitious Oyster. The oyster in his narrow bed Complained about his lot. “I fain would see the world,” he said, “And leave this humble spot. Forethought. “What did you do ghout those col- onizers that conspired to corrupt the ballot of Crimson Guleh?” “We held 'em till the census could be took,” answered Piute Pete; “an’ then turned ‘em over to the law an’ br- der committee.” Similarity. This world is a tumultuous scene I've heard of places where the lights Are burned till 1 am, % P iy the White & im for suppo: e ouse on | et g Muscle Shoals legislation. After Dwight would I were with them. ::orrow's I:;,m;gmwnh:mfb:g" is e word—the en! nown He had his wish. They lifted him that he hoped New Jersey would honor Gttt e Law tothe. Bemre, The Hoover view, He saw the lights—t — |law nate. oover view, They served hom e it oy | 5" o Dutshell i that the 1930 cam: = paign is not his baby and that from And as his shell from him they tore every standpoint it would be injudi- ‘These words—his last—he spoke: clous for him to assume its fatherhood. “I would that I were back once more i b e ‘* ‘z - > d n a y or two two more our kv, won i il [ o S R ©Oh, youth, with va, i , from s, and Irw! . Laug] Diaptéo pot Hencia ambitious fired, | srom Madridwill be in Was I 0w ington to commune with the President '1'h‘;n things which most you have desired, umdl thz‘ secl:flar{ di}f su"“fn ‘}'heodug.h ce gained, may most annoy! ncle m nof rectly involve in any of the Old World's sorely troubled i e ouu ohBOE WLl B affairs, the universal mess ~over there” Some are—the favored few— bristles issues and possibilities The epicures. And some must be :mch dmmhl v:z -lmoslt t:nyt mog:gt lemand our vigorous interest. - FRRRTNESG SO eric M. Sackett, American Ambassador to Germany, has just concluded a visit e something ’Bnhw“De fill;l Th:ot 1) = l'?l"l““el(l“d “Why don't you do hilan- | State Department rom the Ken- "1y » lopmen! e ich, as lewet “I'm ‘afrald to” answered Semator | by our official chserver at Beriin. Mr. Sorghum. “If I show that I have any su:ke_n is a bull, not a bear, on Ger- money beyond my actual needs, some- | Many's future. ©_ - body will be asking where I got it.” SNy Wt wists te Saow ex- actly me genesis and status of the United States' interest in Palestine tan derive a world of information from State Department pamphlet. It's entitled “The Palestine Mandate Con- vention” and contains the full docu- mentary record of our negotiations with Great Britain for a treaty gusr- Land. Readers of the pamphlet will encounter, a disclosure of which hardly one in a million Americans has knowl- In January, 1922, during the Armament Conference, Mr.) Balfour, who headed And our attentive care it claims de Secre- elegation, To tell the difference between sary o ive carly considera; Elections, fights and foot ball games. | jeter to Hughes Balfour said: “At the Paris Peace Conference I always | the h::tune Bl‘l“il‘lu but by tes. o o Moo B Though subsequent_events have shown “Well,” answered Farmer Corntossel, | me t such a “I don't exactly approve of it. But I|have commended "1 still think that, don't feel nigh as annoyed as X would | 55" PP, o st "ta- conoemed, 1t be it I thought he wasn't able to hold | would have been the best.” his own in the scrimmage.” *® K X X Two distinguished members of the Washington _diplomatic corps—Ambas- sador von Prittwitz of Germany and Minister Wu of China—have just re- Paternal Pride. “Do you approve of your son's engag- A Race-Track Sentiment. ‘We wonder if the odds were fair, E'en when we win a bet; Though luck is good, we still declare 1t should be better yet. Dr. von Prittwitz ends a three mont fatherlan ’ leave in his back from d, turned to their posts after protracted | Africa latter. Well, maybe they do, but one who is not so constructed, mentally, may be forgiven for feeling that one neither listens very well nor reads very well under such conditions. Good reading demands concentration, and concentra- tion, except under unusual conditions, requires some degree of quiet. Libraries have not made silence a decree to show the authority of librarians, but simply because it gives the best atmosphere for serjous reading. ‘The best position for reading, there- fore, is the one which best suits you, the reader. If you like to throw one leg over the arm of your chair, by all means do so. If there i3 any objec- tion, say that Mark Twain 1ead fo. He didn't, of course, but he wrote in bed, 80 that should settle the matter. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. stantial vote- of confidence. Berlin's envoy to the United States points to result as prima facie evidence that German nation is not inclined to have its destiny decided by a certain group of extremists.” Dr. Wu at Geneva was particularly concerned with the League's crusade to curb the narcotics traffic. He presented a resolution requesting certain data and information as to the drug traffic in that country. Dr. Wu declares it is common knowledge that “certain governments” might greater vigilance in control of narcotics and morphine, he charges, are doing vastly more damage in China than her own oplum traffic. * % % It is a striking tribute to the public appetite for facts about Soviet Russia that the Rev. Dr. Edmund A. Walsh of Georgetown University should still be packing one of Washington's biggest auditoriums with a lecture series on that subject. Last night Dr. Walsh de- livered his, sixtieth consecutive address on Russia in five years. His audiences promise to be bigger and more inter- ested than ever in his authoritative ex- posure of Communism's plans for world revolution. The distinguished Jesuit is devoting his early talks this season to an explanation of the “five-year plan” for - manufacturing $42,000,000,000 of industrial and agricuitural wealth in Russia by the end of 1933 through high-pressure methods. * ok kK Mrs. Emily Newell Blair of Missouri, well known former vice chairman of the Democratic National and a pioneer suffragist, has embarked upon a crusade evidently designed to wean her sex away from politics and back to the nursery, the kitchen and the living room. “Feminism,” che Intimates, has had its day, largely because it cannot hold out against the odds which in- equality between men and women pre- sents. As a result, Mrs. Blair sees a recrudescence of homemaking. She's Just written a book in which her views are persuasively ventilated, “The Crea- tion of the Home.” Incidentally, the dynamic daughter of Joplin is herself leading a ruple life—wife, mother, politician writer. (Copyright, oo Britain Will Review Secession Problems From the New York Herald Tribune. Those subjects of the British Empire who are ignorant of America and its ‘ways are sometimes told by way of explanation that it is unsafe to gener- alize about this country because of its size and its heterogeneity. To make the point clear they are told that the term “American” may be held to cor- respond “Britisher,” whereas such a term as “Middle Westerner” or “New nder” corresponds to such terms as “English” or “Irish” or “Australian.” America, in truth, is not quite so large and diverse as the British Empire or the former Russian Empire, but it is cer- tainly much farther removed from the European concept of a nation. From the broad standpoint ‘of political struc- ture, we are certainly nearer the Union of Soviet Republics than we are to the Republic of France. Because we are a Union of sovereign States we may take more than a casual interest in some of the remarks being made in London on the eve of the im- perial conference. ‘The question of se- cession is jnuch to the fore. To the Nationalists of India, of course, this is & very burning question indeed. If not quite so acute, it is certainly interest- ing to the Irish Free State and the Un- ion, very definite views. iqx:mt;g.n;gn“ & jot or a tittle of our €] ce not going firmaf of the union's right to secede. Thet speculation, * * ** Like deal Moreover, the Union of South lose not a little by cut- pressiy proportions will be held for the benefit of the rial . The some delegal 1930.) | ion of South Africa. Gen. Hertaog, the e minister of the South African He is be sacri I am to the conference to get con- ourselves, the British know & about the principle of fed- ting itself away. The dispatches indi- cate thl&lu‘rfl nmv&un ive the may think twice before they give up a m A in the East. Foreign supplies of heroin | Committee | U |New Banking Law Urged Savings Deposit Accounts Held Liabilities to National Banks. To the Editor of The Star: ‘When the ial session of Congress ‘Was conven: to revite the tariff— already 20 per cent top high—and wasting 11 months at the job, the writer pointed out that that was not the cause of the business depression, since the exports to foreign countries greatly exceeded imports, resulting in the United States lccumnllun{hnnrly half the gold of the world, but that the cause was an iniquitous banking and currency system, enacted in the Cool- idge administration, which its author and drafter recently denounced as “a relic of a bygone generation and no longer adapted to our present-day busi- ness needs,” which puts & premium on savings deposit accounts by allowing banks to offer alluring rates of interest for the 62-cent dollar. To add to that, aided by the maladminictration of the Federal Reserve act, “economy” was preached day in and day out, with the result that there are now nearly 53,- 000,000 savings accounts in the United States (before the World War there were only 8,000,000) with total savings amounting to nearly $30,000,000,000 at rates of interest averaging nearly 4!, per cent. All recent financial reports, despite the buciness depression, show that these accounts are daily increasing. In New York alone they reached nearly $250,- 000,000 last year. As a result of these savings there is now nearly $300,000,000 less cash in circulation than a year ago. Every dollar put in these accounts makes conditions so much worse, since the misguided banker is not lending the money to speculative business men be- cause the purchasing power of the dol- lar is not worth the interest demanded. Even at 2 per cent interest business is not borrowing from the large financial institutions of the country, which are loaded with dollars because production cannot be consumed, due to the fact that millions of men are out of em- ployment and their purchasing power has been broken down. As a result of this condition these big financial insti- tutions jumped at the recent offer of the Treasury Department to pay 2% per cent interest on Treasury certifi- cates, the lowest rate offered since the Civil War, and it was more than four times oversubscribed. Recently the writer asked this question: If in 1896— the year of the mythical gold standard on which the world is supj to be doing business, when, as a matter of fact, it is doing business on banker's credit—and up to the entrance of the United States into the World War one could have borrowed a dollar which had more than double the purchasing power of the present 62-cent dollar for 414 per cent interest, how much interest should he be compelled to pay for the present 62-cent dollar and why? The Treasury Department officially answers the question by allowing 23 'i’e\";u?m ‘“fii{fi“g‘;‘}“ recent issue of ury certifica for the do;.l'l‘rv—lilsl that it is worth, e, ere is no unemployment today, which is th. {:(’:lttmw‘n ’D:‘nmlce country in the world. In fact, latest reports show that 15,000 more men are needed. The interest rate there is 2 per cent, and naturally money and credit is freely circulated, resulting in ample employment for its people, as well as the gold of the world dowing to it in return for its products. Névertheless, the United States holds mote than twice the amount of gold held by Prance, the lalest figures of the Federal Reserve Board showing that France holds 16.20 per cent while the United States holds 39.17 per cent, the remaining 45 per cent Leing distributed ng the ccuntries of the world, & totally portionate percentage. Despite its large gold holdiags, there is an abnormal business depress: the United States, wholly unca.ed which uires a major operation to cui out the cancer which caused the business world to become sick. In the writes opinion, . i will require around $2,000,000,000 money and credit to start wheels of | industry revolving a healthy ai permanent basis — just one- nd | half the amount of credit deflated by | n for, it of the | Reserve Board in the recent Wall Street | crash. And since the world is burdened with interest—rather, usury—which it unable to pay, it would be folly to 3k it further to burden itself. As a ay out of the dilemma, I suggest the enactment by Congress of the 25-year, non-interest-bearing bond bill, now pending in the Ways and Means Com- mittee of the House of Representatives, permitting States, cities and counties, when giving pre security, to deposit their bonds with the Secretary of the Trewsury and receive legal tender money {to start needed .public improvements which would absorb unemployment and country until conditions became normal, when, by Executive order, it would automatically stopped. Then Congress should pass a new banking and currency law prohibiting national banks and trust companies from opening savings deposit accounts. ‘These accounts, since they are bought, are a real liability rather than an asset |to the banks. Such accounts would i then seek the Government postal sav- |ings banks, which pay 2 ‘per cent in- terest, or the savings banks and build- ing and loan assoclations for invest- | ment and when properly invested would yield a greater return in dividends than he banks now pay in interest on such S Ewever, since. the od s supposed owever, since W su) to be doing business on ¢he mythical | gold standard, and since the increase the production of new gold through- out the world is rapidly diminishing Pand is insufficient to keep pace with the growing business of the world, it is palgnb!y evident that the issue of 1896 —the bimetallic or quantitative theory of money—will have to be fought again, not as a political question, but as an economic question, through interna- tional agreement. Since the United States holds nearly half the gold of the world, that question is not as acute here as in the rest of the world. But sale of the surplus products of the United States to foreign countries, be- cause of the scarcity of gold in those countries, on which, to some extent, depends the internal prosperity of the United States. W. J. DWYER. States Determine Holidays Observed Prom the New Orleans States. A reader of the States writes to in- quire if Columbus day was a national holiday. It wasn’t. There is no such thing as a national holiday, not &ven the Fourth of July, the day of the Dee~ laration of Independence. Nelther the President nor Congress, under the Constitution, has the right to prescribe legal holidays in the various States. That is one of the few rights that have not been alienated from the States. The Federal Government can make holNlays legal in the District of lumbia, and of course, if it chooses, it can close Government buildings all over the country on any day it pleases. But that is the limit of its authority. Every year the President delivers a proclamaticn declaring a day of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving i ob- served as a holiday in each of the 48 States, but not by the flat of the Presi- dent. It becomes in a sense a national holiday only by comcurrence of the Btates, and any State, if it elected, could pick some other day than that chosen by the President to offer thanks to Heaven for blessings received. For commercial purposes the Federal ‘Government in various acts of Congress recog! Labor day, Christmas, New Year day, Washington's birthday, Memorial day and the Fourth of July as mflc holidays. That is as far as the leral Government can go. Inciden- tally Memorial day is different in the th from that in the North. legal holiday” is occasionally loosely applied to holidays such as some of mentioned above, ‘which have been made holidays in every State and in the of Co- lumbia, as Christmas for instance, and they ht be said 10 be national and the Federal it O the maladministration of the Federal| increase the purchasing power of the | such condition materially affects the/ ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC This bureau does not give advice, but it gives free information on nmnx sub- ject. Often, to be accurately informed to be beyond the need of advice, and information is always valuable, whereas advice may not be. In using this serv- ice be sure to write clearly, state your inquiry briefly and inclose 3-cent stamp for reply postage. ‘The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. Q. Is there a new edition of the game | law;l lo; the 1930-31 hunting season?- A, me Laws, for the Season 1930- 31, a booklet summarizing the pro- visions of Federal, State and provincial statutes, is now ready for distribution. as a stamp bearing the portrait Q. H: | of Wil “X'A United_states tage stam B 8 post p bearing the portrait of former Presi- dent Willlam Howard Taft was placed on sale June 4, 1930, at Cincinnati, | Ohio. The new stamp will have a 4- cent value, Q. What Federal highways run through Roanoke?—B. V. C. A. Roanoke, Va., is on Federal high- ways 11 and 311, Q. Please give a list of the different phases and of work econnected ylt)l"l the motion picture industry.— A. There are at least 100 classifica- tions of work in the industry. Among the more important are actors, authors, directors, producers, cameramen, electri- clans, continuity writers, painters, as- sistant production managers, plasterers, sculptors, cartoonists, assistant direc- tors, make-up artists, costumers, featured players, character actors, tras,” riders, aviators, divers, drivers, motor cyclists, iron workers, as- sistant cameramen, art directors, archi- tects, scenario editors, supervisors of production, title writers, casting direc- tors, publicity men, interior decorators, cleaners, watchmen, motor truck drivers, gardeners, hairdressers, wig- makers, wood workers, firemen, engi- neers, superintendents of plants, fore- men, musicians, draftsmen, film cutters, tinters, developers, printers, physicians, metal workers, dressmakers, mechanics, readers, errand boys, lawyers, washers, laboratory managers, inspectors, ma- ephone operators, shipp! and clerks, _general sales- managers, assistant salesmanagers, dis- trict salesmanagers, branch salesman- agers, salesmen, inspectors, stenog- raphers, postal clerks, clerks, 'npfin, bookers, bookkeepers, exploitation m#n- agers and assistants, projectionists, for- eign nManagers and assistants, trans- lators and newsreel editors and others. name?—V. D. A. Various derivations are given for the word, among them -fire, cop- veying the idea that every one in the neighborhood contributes a portion of the material for the fire. .Q. How much money is spent in all kinds of advertising in this country each year?—D. C. B. A. The Editor and Publisher says the latest reliable estimate is approximately $1,400,000,000 a year. Of this, about $450,000,000 is spent for newspaper space by local advertisers: between $150,000,000 and $200,000,000 is nt for classified advertising, and . about iam Howatd Taft been made?— | k. s o Q. Why do we call a bonfire by that | 1. HASKIN. ter for direct advertising. broddeasting, trade journals, farm publications, car cards, ete. Q. How many pounds of flour does & bushel of wheat make?—L. E. D. A. The Department of Agriculture says that & bushel of wheat will yleld 40 to 42 pounds of flour, depending upon | weight of the wheat. wam: invented barbed wire?—P. o. W. . A. The earliest patents for barbed wire fence were issued in 1874 to Joseph F. Glidden of De Kalb, IIl., and for the machine to manufacture it to Glidden and Phineas W. Vaughan. Q. Why was the Regency period in .mflu’cmn and furniture so named?— ‘A. The period of transition between Louis XIV and Louls XV was so named because at the time, 1715-23, Prance | was under the regency of Philip, Duke | of Orleans. Q. Is there any proof that Betsy Ross actually made the first American flag?—G. H. W. A. The Betsy Ross legend was first presented in a paper read before the Historical Soclety of Pennsylvania in 1870 by William J. Canby, a grandson of Betsy Ross. No contemporary docu- ments ir. support of the story have been found, but there is no such_ evidence giving the honor to any one else. It is known that there was a Mrs. Ross Hy- ing in Philadelphia at the time of the flag's adoption, and that she was an upholsterer and fl::‘mlkflr by trade. She died January 30, 1836. -Qé What are bank acceptances?—N. A. The Federal Reserve Board de- fines the bank acceptance as “a draft or bill of exchange, whether payable in the ' United States or abroad, and whether payable in dollars or other money, of which the acceptor is a bank 4or trust company, a firm, person, com- ny or corporation engag r ed fnenny n the business of granting bankers' ac- ceptance credits.” Q. Do other breeds of horses, such as Morgans and Saddlers, have the blood of - thorou; veins?—J. M. A. Almost all fine breeds of horses have at some time been thoroughbreds. Q. What is the Civic Forum Medal of Honor that is to be presented to Rear 1A‘_ldn-m-:l Byrd? DW;G has received it ars?—D. Aflhi’mdll is awarded on the vote of the National Council of the forum, which is composed of 100 leading citi- zens in all parts of the country.. The Thomas A. Graham Bell in 1917, Herbert in 1920, Charles W. Eliot in 1923, Jean A”?. Jusserand, 1924, and Elihu 1927, Q. How many pounds will a cubic foot of helium lift? Prom what is helium made?>—F. B. 8. A. The lifting power of helium i .069577 pounds per cubic foot. is extracted from natural gas found in largs quantities in Texas, Oklahom: and W a 'Ihpmlby'hfin is extracted a trade secret. Hi '$775,000,000 is spent by general or na- tional advertisers;in news] , maga- zines, billboards and signs, printed mat- is found in small percentages, from 1 to 2 per cent, in natural gas. On the 2,000th anniversary of the Latin poet Vergil he is declared by the New Orleans Item to be “perhaps even more alive at this time than he was in the flesh,” because “his worksiare m‘?re widely read than they were even when he 'l:. at the height of his first fame in ancient Rome.” American comment puts emphasis on the fact that while this writer wanted his work to be burned, as he believed it lacked perfec- tion, it has greatly influenced the de- velopment of thought and language. He is placed among the giants. “Like Shakespeare, like Dante, and like all truly great writers throughout the ages, the singer of ‘Arms and the Man’ wrote not for his own brief period alone, but for all time,” says the Kala- mazoo Gazette. The ica Observer- be | Dispatch testifies that “those who hold the Latih poets in high esteem have always loved Vergil’; that ‘“after the establishment of Christianity, Constan- tine the Great accepted his Fourth Ec- logue as a prophecy,” and that “when Dante made his famous visit to Purga- tory he chose Vergil as his guide. “How many, remembering school days, when they read Capsar’s ‘Com- mentaries’ before ‘tackling” the ‘Aeneid,’ ” suggests ‘the Oakland Tri- bune, “will voice an opinion it is the latter which remains in°the mind, and even above the eloguence of Cicero? “Praise a large domain, cultivate a small state,” wrote Vergil 2,000 years ago, and in that there may be a thought for Mussolini.” The Tribune declares “there have been mightier geniuses, but he lives in more hearts and minds.” Tk ok ok ok “He saw the majesty of man and was filled with sadness that life is so flect- ing and so crowded with frustration. thinks the Youngstown Vindicator, with a tribute to the poet's message as “of definite value to the world toda: That paper continues: “His sense of the illusion of life, the dignity of man struggling against overwhelming odds to conquer nature and himself, gives his work a philosophical interest, which never ceases to attract the thoughtful. It is Vergil the philos- opher who has put his thoughts intc perfect poetry who lives and is scele- brated today. He is loved for the plety, the gravity and the sweetness of his view of life. Farmers should make him thelr patron saint, for he spent seven years on his “Georgics,’ a manual of farming, written in some of the most beautiful “poetry ever penned. Th ‘Georgics’ {illustrates Vergil's nature. He saw the dignity of farming, as he saw the dignity of all of the common tasks by which man must live, and he strove to show its nobility and the sat- istaction the farmer may 'Akfi in his close relationship with nature. Lamenting e abandonment of farms, the Columbia State looks upon the great cities “trying in vain to shel- ter and feed the minions of a starving, motley, city-frenzied population’ and adds: “Vergil, on his father’s farm and on his own, and in his magnificent sing- ing poetry. dedicated to the tillers of the soil, has a sharp lesson for us of 1d.” thfi“'l’eor o well to mark Vergil's bimil- ages.” Gazette feels t) to know how many high school young- sters, in spite of dull class room routine, have got a few thrills out of the “Aeneld. " though h: “did not, wm;rtek;:z for a tex! - mette calls. him “one of the literary jants of all time.” E'%We would not say.” according to the Atlanta Journal, “that the, life and work of this great poet have meant more to the world than have the in- vention af the steam engine, the dis- e lication potr of e and atili- for the of the tricity and all the marvels of the age of the machine, values of the one are so essentially ferent from those of the other that would be as pointless to compare them as to ask whether the stars or the ‘waves were of more moment to a wan- dering mariner. we no ce no ving up counts for a tithe as progress -of ‘the human 3 £\ Vergil, After 20 Centuries, | Looms .as Glorious Figure fact that Vergil's poetry still is read and his memory still_cherished.” o A A A S “Perfection was his was his accomplishment. lives after 2,000 years,” proc! Milwaukee Journal, and the Buffalo Evening News remarks: “Fortunately for the memory of Vergil, the record is clear with regard to his life. It is not shrouded in mystery and in legend as is that of Homer of the Greks. For- tunately, too, the Roman Emperor Au- gustus declined to carry out the order of the dying poet that the ‘Aeneid’ be destroyed—a desire, based on a fear of imperfection in his work, that gives 8 keynote to the character of Vergil.” “All English literature, from the time of Chaucer to the present, has exhibited evidences of the influence of Vergil,' llay Walla Bulletin, alm. Perfect And now he laims the comments the Wal while the Manchester Union offers the glowing tribu “No ‘poet that has ever lived hafexerted a wider influence upon the thought and destiny of the human race. Shakespeare left an in- delible stamp upon English Iiterature. Goethe is fitly regarded as the father of modern German literature, and Dante of modern Italian. But and other great poets of later times who laid the foundations of the litera- tures of their respective peoples may be compared to the great Roman as mighty rivers are compared to the tiny | spring trom which they draw a common source.” Appropriateness of the celebration of the event by the Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at William and Mary Col- lege, national home of that fraternity, is reccgnized by the Richmond News Leader in the description: “The sf , set with evergreens from the nearl woods of the peninsula, framed mass- filc!uru of which Morris Gest would not | have been ashamed. The lighting | helghtened every picture. Hades was portrayed in its classic conception, not | s the domain of man's dark thought, | but as a place of punishment for his | grim misdeeds. The voices of the per- formers, well trained, carried with re- markable accuracy, and the pageant itself was so edmirably phrased that a long speech by old Anchises held the auditors for 14 minutes. The music, written in Williamsburg by George M. Small, and performed by the college band, deepened the illusion and was as | much in the spirit of the piece as the tom-toms in ‘Emperor Jones.' " ———— | Nicaragua Honors Slain U. S. Marines Prom the New York Herald Tribune. | To otr so-called anti-imperialists the spectacle of a Central American Presi~ dent awarding posthumous decoratiuns to deceasea United States Marmes mudt He strangely disturbing. It is a picture which somehow does not fit the shallow dogmatism of those who depict the young men wearing the American uni- form as mercenaries, Yet this is exactly what recently hap- pened in Nicaragua, where the Presi- dent, Senor Jose Maria ~Moncada, awarded thumously the Nicaraguan Medal of Merit to 7 officers and 32 enlisted men who lost their lives fighting for peace and freedom in that country. lent Moncada, who lived through and took an active part in the dark days of 1927, is under no illusions hich these he was then in open opposition to the Nicaraguan government, he sees. the conduct of these young Americans as something involving self-sacrifice and bravery of a very high order. The' names of these m 1 now constitute a roll of honor in Nicaragua. As they also died in the support of American policies, their hames much to us. o More About Atterbury. From the Roanoke Times. Gen. Atterbury’s resignation as Re- dustrial blican national committeeman suggests that an