Evening Star Newspaper, November 2, 1930, Page 40

(THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. BUNDAY......November 2, 1830 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: . and Pennsyivania Ave, New Office: 110 East 4and e, icago Office: Lake gan Bullding. uropean Offce. 1 ent 8t., London, day Star ... Soifection mads st ¢ S5 G sal morth: Qiders maz be sent in by mail or telepnone Ational 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. E:y and Sunday.....1yr., $10.00: 1 mo.. ily only .. $6.00: 1 mo. sy only 50 All Other States and Canada. FHV ;lm sund-y,,i I 81200 3 mo., $1.00 3 . A, : 1 mo., unday only 1y, gn.uo:xmo.. 182 Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled the use for republication of all news Ciz- Jatohes cradited to it or not otherwise ered- ted 1o Shis paper and siso the ocal news Bublished herein. Al rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also 1eserved. Havana and Washington. Cuba, an Associated Press dispatch says, which has modeled its constitution mnd government on that of the United States, will take another leaf from our chapter of experience next February when & constitutional amendment be- comes effective abolishing the municipal government of Havana and vesting sole control of the Capital City with the federal government. There is one great difference be- Wween the status of citizens of our Capital, however, and the future status of citizens of Havana. Cubans who happen to live in Havana will retain their right, as citizens, to participate in national elections and in provincial elections—for Havana will still be located within & province, under a governor. ‘The only rights they lose will be those of voting as citizens of a municipality. Havana's municipal politics, it is under- stood, were not conducive to good gov- ernment. In addition, the federal gov- emment for many years had pald the lion's share of municipal expenses. The Federal government had supported the schools entirely. It had supported other municipal agencies entirely, and shared other expenses, such as the police de- pertment, on a half-and-half basis with the city. Ugder the constitutional amendment, which was approved, with others, two years ago, the federal gov- support of Capital City projects hereto- fore given. But the responsible federal S0 surprising to find that the “wild West” ¥ self of the fundamentals of present-day civilisation. | ‘The same period marked the conquest of Africa. The “savages” of the Dark Continent went the same way as the American aboriginals. A similar process went on in Australia and the islands of the Pacific. Primitive peoples disap- peared everywhere as factors in the spread of the civilized races. Universal seemed the conquest of the plow and the tatlor. Generally, it was looked upon as & divinely ordained conquest—the spreading of the blessings of civilization to the whole world. The aboriginals, for the most part, seemed thus to have accepted it in the end. Only in practically inaccessible areas did they persist as aboriginals—the Far North, some jungle fastnesses of South America and New Guinea. In the light of all this it is somewhat still persists in one of the most popu- lous and civilized parts of the earth— the Japanese Empire. The aboriginals are attacking and slaying settlers on the southern Island of Formosa. Evi- dently it i a serious revolt of the aboriginal population which has again brought “savage warfare” into the headlines. It may be considered one of the belated death struggles of the primitive, PSP —— Punishing Attempted Suicides. Should some modern Marco FPolo, returning from his travels in a far- away land, tell of a kingdom ruled by an all-powerful monarch who prac- ticed the quaint custom of arresting those who attempt suicide, placing them in the stocks that they might be ridiculed before beheading them as punishment, his audience would be adequately impressed by the contrast between uncivilized and civilized peo- ples. Here in Washington, for instance, some man in s fit of despondency goes to & drug store and purchases & drug sold to induce sleep. He lles to the druggist, for the scoundrel does not admit that he intends to kill himself. He intentionally takes an overdose of the medicine, passes into the Valley of the Shadow, but comes back again. When he has recovered he is arrested for violation of the drug laws, taken into court and fined. If he is unable to pay the fine he is sent to prison. Thus the community takes its pound f flesh. The man who attempts sul- cide is adequately punished—not for attempted suicide, but for violating the drug laws. His family is also punished. The culprit, no doubt, is firmly con- vinced that it does not pay to attempt syelde. One must either make & thorough job of it or abstain altogether from the practice. But how much better this is than ridiculing the man by placing him in the stocks and then beheading him! We move forward. It has become an accepted procedure here, perhaps elsewhere, to prosecute those who attempt suicide, when vio- . | 1ation of the drug laws can be shown. The man who buys poison, telling the . | druggist that he intends to kill rats the law, cut down its proportionate the community find themselves taxed ‘more and more to offset the diminishing finaneial responsibility assumed by the exclusively powerful Federal Govern- ment. If, in Havana, the amount of the federal participation in the expenses of the Capital City diminishes as the pop- ulation of the city increases and the demands for revenue are lessened, the people of the city of Havana will still retain a voice in the control of their affairs through their representation in the federal government. They will have the recourses left to them that are guaranteed under a democratic form of government. They will still participate, as citizens, in the control of the taxes they pay. As far as correct principles is con- cerned, Cuba has done more than bor- row & chapter from our book of ex- perience. She has edited and rewritten portions of it, and the deletions are more important than that which has been left untouched. We might borrow back 8 few paragraphs from Cuba. ———t There are those who consider that the retirement of a sea-dog of the cal- iber of Admiral Hughes is a greater loss to the Navy than the laying off of goodness knows how many gobs and Marines. Rudy Vallee and his musical cohorts came in entirely too late for the gala opening of Washington's newest hos- telry. He should add a foghorn to his band. Japan's Primitives. Warfare with savages so long has seemed & thing of the past that its reappearance strikes an incongruous note in newspaper headlines. The great clash came in the nine- teenth century—the era of the conquest ©f the earth by the civilized natious. Primitive peoples everywhere were re- duced to subjection by the soldiers and $o compliance with the culture of their conquerors by the school teachers and @nissionaries. In the forty years following the Civil @War came the last notable combats with the American Indians, and the in- terfor of the North American continent was laid open to the homesteader. The *wild West” gave way to cities, villages, trolley lines and amusement parks. The Indian soon was wearing store clothes, taking his Saturday night bath, attend- ing moving picture shows and the like— absorbed all too thoroughly to please ethnologists and, probably, for his own good. He' disappeared from history as a “savage.” Probably the term never was validly applicable to the race which contributed, in one way or another, &=0ut as much as the white man him- with it, then takes the poison in an effort to put himself out of existénce, provides an excellent “case” for the Government. How absurd! Granting that some un- fortunate human beings resort to fic- titlous “attempts” at suicide as a mor- bid expression of some fantastic or ab- normal emotion, acts which plainly demand the interference of govern- ment, cannot the advances of sclence, not to speak of awakened social re- sponsibility, discover better methods to deal with the victims? Some cases de- mand the intercession of social workers. Others doubtless require medical ex- amination and diagnosis. All of them are 100 serious to be dealt with through police court machinery. The efforts of the Government should be directed to- ward discovering the cause and suggest- ing the cure of these pitiful cases. Mere punishment is beside the mark, wholly irrelevant and apt to become & mockery of the justice supposedly repre- sented. ——— e The Louvre is determined to have better, if fewer, guides, and makes ap- plicants pass thorough examinations. Talkative but ill-informed guides have folled the essential purpose of many & hard-earned European trip. —_————————— They may never find out who killed Mary Baker, but Washington hence- forth should lead the country in the proportion of residents who are well up on the science of ballistics. —_——te “Eight Pushed Into Vault of Bank; Take $2,000"—recent headline. That is showing extreme moderation. oo Dreams of Speed. ‘The imagination is stirred by reports of an airplane now under construction in Germany designed to cross the At- lantic in six hours—that is to travel 500 miles an hour at an altitude of 40,000 feet. Competent experts say that this may be far from an idle dream. There is nothing theoretically or mechanically impossible in the way of such an ex- ploit, although there are several prac- tical difficulties to be overcome. Some day it will be done. The Germans may be on the eve of doing it. It and when such & flight is made it will constitute one of the major events in the history of the present age. For a long time, of courre such transportation will not be very prac- tical. The first flight, and many flights thereafter, will be made by daredevils. But they will be none the less signifi- cant—for what daredevils do today or- dinary cautious folk are likely to be doing tomorrow as a routine matter. The first men who rode in railroad !trains or in automoblles were dare- devils. And what unpredictable possi- bilities are involved in six-hour trans- portation between North America and Europe, whether it be a reality next year or a century hence? Life as a whole will be speeded up accordingly, @s has resulted from every notable mcrease in mechanical speed, The Gérman mind is playing with the speed idea. Last year that coun- try saw the first demonstrations of the rocket motor, still far from prac- tical but theoretically the most efficient device for transforming energy into speed known to science. Only the other day a railroad train was demon- strated at Hamburg cepable of 100 miles an hour. The German inventive genius, to which the world has owed so much in the past, is intrigued with the pospibllity of sensationally faster irplanes, automobiles, Incomotives and ships. ‘ Sooner or later something is bound to come of it. The prospective rewards are sufficlent to insure persistence, once the sclentific mind has taken the first steps on such a road. The prac- tical difficulties encountered at pres- ent may be expected to give way before such persistence. It may well be that the day is near at hand when the world will know as commonplace such speeds as now, even in a “speed age,” are fantastic dreams. - Hero Worship. An {llustration of the speed with which hero worship can burn itself out is given in the just revealed case of Capt. George Fried, who won fame and adulation for his fine seamanship and herolc efforts in the rescues of crew and passengers of the sinking ships Antione and Florida. When the gal- lant captain came into port after the second sensational achievement en- thusiasm ran high. Nothing was too good for him. In fact, so stirred were the people of Yonkers, N. Y., that they decided to give him a nice little house. And on a bright June day last year, with the Boy Scout troop hoisting & flag on the lawn and prominent eciti- zens of Yonkers lauding the captain, he was presented with the keys to his new dwelling, given as a token of ap- preciation by the citizens of Yonkers. So everything was fine. Capt. Fried moved in and the incident passed into history. But with startling suddenness it was revived recently. The captain appeared before the Tax Review Board and asked for a reduction in his as- sessment. Much surprise was expressed at this action and then the brave mariner for the first time explained that the only thing given him by the citizens of Yonkers was the key to the house, which he could have secured anyway, because he was paying and paying well for his “token of apprecia- tlon.” It seems that at first the plan was to present him with & house. Money was slow in coming in and it was de- cided to help him buy a house. Money still falled to appear, however, and the final plan was to sell Capt. Fried & house. At this point, however, an argument arose as to the price. Twenty-one thousand dollars was the initial figure. Capt. Pried finally suc- ceeded in buying the property for seventeen thousand five hundred dollars. It Capt. Fried's seamanship and courage were admired before, he has demonstrated another quality, that of sportsmanship, which must be admired now., Never a word did he say in more than a year to shatter the illusion of his “gift house,” and it was only when necessity demanded that he was forced to Teveal the true state of affairs. It certainly appears that the least the tax board could do would be to reduce his assessment as he has requested. —r——————— In former days a mint julep was about as acceptable a small hospitality as one could offer a resident of the Old Dominion. Today an invitation from some neighboring locality that has s water supply to come over and en- joy s shower or & tub is, in & Virginian's eyes, the acme of entertainment. —————————— A Buffalo health expert announced that high school athletic training is positively silly,. “How many of you played foot ball or basket ball since you left school?” he asked his hearers sarcastically, All right; for that matter, how many have worked out an slgebra equation or read a chapter of Caesar? ——— e A Chicago wife weighing 330 pounds obtained & divorce from her spouse, who tips the beam at 110, on the charge of crueity; it seems he knocked her down. You do not believe in fairies? Why, here is a lineal descendant of Jack, the Giant Killer. ——o—. Fifteen years, astronomers announce, will be needed to analyze the photo- graphs taken of the recent eclipse of the sun. Some movie features would be the better for a similar period of study before being released to & pal- pitant public. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Revised Foot Ball i “I humbly beg your pardon, sir; I fear that I have mashed your toe. Such accidents will oft occur In gatherings like this, you know.” “And I have been,” was the reply, “More hasty than was rightly due. I fear I have contused your eye— And does this ear belong to you?” “Believe me, sir, I meant no harm. It happened by the merest chance. I trust that you will take my arm In getting to the ambulance.” 'Tis now fulfilled, our fondest dream. ‘These college rudenesses are past. Kind courtesy doth reign supreme And foot ball is reformed at last. Always Mercenary. “Why are people so eager for fame?" “Because,” answered Senator Sor- ghum, “in the majority of instances, fame is one of the most profitable forms of advertising.” Jud Tunkins says the fact that most of the family is out to the moving pic- tures or the cabaret is all that keeps the flat from being overcrowded. Sound and Sense. How oft the force that one employs A scant result will bring— The tin horn makes the loudest nolse And never says a thing. Cautlous. “Is your wife going to vote the same way as you?” “I wouldn't say that” replied Mr. Meekton. “I shall vote the same way as Henrietta.” Misinformatiom “There's a great deal printed that you can't believe.” v “There is,” asseated Uncle Bill Bot- tletop; “ specially on hottles.” Moving. The Arab, ere he goes bis way, Folds up his tent, 'tis said. It's all that we can do today To move a folding b2d. “Bometimes,” said Uncle Eben, “de man dat’s allus complainin’ 'bout getting de wust of everything is simply adver- tisin® de fact dat he's & ppre business IMPEDIMENTA ; THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. O, NOVEMBER 2, 1930—PART TWO. - MM | i BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D, LL. D, Bishop of Tezt: “Lay aside every weight.”— Hebrews, rii.l. The action and success of an army is largely determined by the disposi- tion of its impedimenta. Some one has said that battles are won at the rear rather than at the front. Our efficiency is likewise determined by our ability to free ourselves from unneces- sary burdens. The busy folk who are ever ready to assume fresh obligations are enabled to do so by so apportioning their time and distributing their bur- dens that there is nothing of conflict or embarressment in handling them. Those whose lives we envy, the men and women who are the true leaders in any sphere they occupy, are those who so apportion the hours of each day, so regulate their habits, their work, their pleasures, their several duties, that everything falls into its proper place and receives its due con- sideration. On the other hand, the fretted people, who work and play without design and purpose, who w the effect of the burdens they are carrying, are those who have no order in their lives, no system, no program and no time table. It was said of John Wesley, the great evangelist, that he found little difficulty in preaching five sermons a day as he moved from place to place. He had a definite itinerary and the size of his objective compelled him to unburden himself of I.hin!’se unessential and unnecessary. When our system of education reaches a higher stage it will take cognizance of some rhethod by which life may be systematically planned and ordered. Speaking of education, we sometimes wonder whether too many subjects, superficially considered, do not ultimately constitute in the mind of the student impedimenta rather than stimull. The same thing applies to & too discursive habit in the matter of reading. President Eliot of Harvard endeavored in his “Five-Foot Shelf of Books” to compel concentrated reading of the great authors. His plan may seem to be too and yet it is far better to re: foot shelf of the best than to read a 20-foot shelf of mediocre works. great forward movements, the efichfl mfl in life, are invariably distingu! by leaders who have the Prohibition Is Chief Issue In 11 State Elections Tuesday BY WILLIAM HARD. Voters in 11 States next Tuesday will find themselves immediately involved in the prohibition question on a State- wide scale. This is regarded here as the election fact having most to do with the politics of the future and with the presidential campaign of 1932. The Democrats next Tuesday are expected to gain certain seats in the Senate and certain numerous seats in the House of Representatives on the basis principally of the present business depression. These seats they might well lose two years from now with a return of pros- perity. On the other hand, the struggle of next Tuesday over the prohibition question in virtually one-quarter of the States of the Union promises to protract itself without fail into the national party political battles of the next presi-| dentlal year. ‘The States in which prohibition is this year again a State-wide political con- tentlous subject are scattered through all regions of the country except solid South and the strictly Prairie Northwest. They are also, for the most part, States which are politically doubtful and debatable as between the two partles. They accordingly thus have an impor- tance exceeding even their actual total of presidential electoral votes. They are prizes which either party ma stretch its principles in 1932 to gain. They are therefore the central objects of professional political observation from the National Capital today. In Massachusetts the voters on referendum will sustain or repeal th State-wide local prohibition enforce- ment act. This referendum is not a “straw vote.” It has legal binding effect. The betting, right or wrong, is that the wets will win it. If they do, the penalties now imposed by the State of Massachusetts upon the manufacture and transportation of intoxicating beverages will automatically disappgar. In that degree Massachusetts Wlfipimn the five other States—New York, Mary- land, Wisconsin, Nevada and Montana —which today have no State-wide pro- hibition enforcement laws. In Illinois next Tuesday the voters will face a three-pronged prohibition referendum ballot. The first prong asks them if they want to repeal the eigh- teenth amendment. The second in- quires as to whether or not they want to amend the Volstead law in such a way as to let Illinois and not the Fed- eral Government decide the meaning of the word “intoxicating” The third de- mands if they desire to repeal the Illi- nois prohibition enforcement statute. ‘This referendum has no actually bind- ing effect upon the State Legislature, but it is supposed to have a persuasive effect in the manner illustrated last year in Wisconsin. A Wisconsin referendum on State en- forcement went wet last year and the Wisconsin Legislature thereupon promptly succumbed to the referendum and threw the State enforcement law out of the Wisconsin statute books. This precedent is relied u by the Illinois wets. They have dy, it s true, carried two referendums in Ili- nois—one in 1922 and one in 1926— without converting the Illinols dry Legislature to their views; but they think that three times will put the drys out and give them now the State prohi- bm:n enforcement repealer, which they seek. Such a victory in Illinois, along with & similar victory, if it happens, in Mas- sachusetts, would give the wets seven States which would have repudiated all share in the enforcement of the eigh- teenth amendment; and these States have a total of 118 presidential electoral votes out of a grand total of 531 votes in the presidential electoral college. In Illinois, and also in Rhode Island, the Republican party State organiza- tion has committed itself to the rum referendum idea. Ruth Hanna McCor- mick, Republican senatorial nominee in Illinois, a dry, has engaged to abide by the Illinois rum referendum re- sults. In Rhode Island the referendum inquiry this year is simply snappily as follows: “The eighteenth amendment—shall it be retained?” Senator J. H. Metcalf, Republican, striving to keep his Rhode Island seat in the Senate against the onslaught of ex-Senator P. G. Gerry, Democrat and wet, seems to think that the Rhode Island voters will say that the eighteenth amendment should not —not—be retained. He has gone over to_the wet cause.. In Massachusetts the Republican senatorial candidate, W. M. Butler, re- mains dry and may win but, according to the professional political gamblers, ' ceed may not. If he fails, the push that sent him down will be from the Re- publican wet_deserters, who have gone over to the Democratic wet senatorial candidate, M. A. Coolidge. In Connecticut the Democrats used their State platform for a straight drive into eighteenth amendment repeal and the Republicans contrived to get themselves photographed in a posture of diving without actually hitting their heads on the verbal repeal wave. In New York and New Jersey, both parties adopted entirely saturated wet repeal planks, and in New York the Democratic_candidate for Governor, F. D, Roosevelt, who is wetter than his Republican rival, C. H. Tuttle, seems likely to beat him, while in New Jersey a senatorial contest once thought hope- ful for the Democrats has seemingly been assured to the Republicans through : | liquor question in next Tuesday’s elec- Washington. capacity to say: “This one thing I do.” ‘They lay aside every weight; like an athlete they train themselves to a defi- nite task. When we apply all this to our indulgence in things spiritual, the development and enrichment of the things of the soul, we inevitably dis- cover that discursive habits, the acqui- sitiorr of all kinds of isms, periodic ex- cursions into new cults and systems only serve to weight us down with that which is non-essential to normal spirit-, ual growth. Our observation leads us to the conclusion that those who mis- carry in their spiritual life, whose de- votional habits are checked and hin- dered, are those who are largely af- fected by an excess of things that are e ‘raneous to that whch is fundamental and essential. There are religious fads and fancies that are so alluring, so ap- pealing to the curious multitude that they are led away captive to them, the result being, in too many cases, spiritual enervation and -g:thya The many re- ligious systems that are abroad today, only tend to confuse those who are sin- cerely seeking to find the way that leadeth unto life eternal. The anomaly of the situation is emphasized when one studies the simple and direct teachings of the great Master Himself. He did not lay upon men's shoulders burdens too heavy to be borne. He laid down deep Frtnclples that had to do with life’s largest concerns. In habit and teaching He exemplified the virtues of a simple life, a life unembarrassed and unhindered by the accession of things unnecessary and valueless, If there was ever a time when we needed to get rid of our impedimenta, the things that however attractive and appealing, are extraneous to our daily spiritual needs, it is the present. It were well that the church of every name undertook & stock-taking period for the purpose of discovering how much in system and practice they are carrying that is un- related to the vital needs of those to whom they minister. Life grows more intricate and complex with each new day; we are the victims of environing conditions, the followers of that which is eccentric and bizarre. A modicum of this may suffice to serve all our needs. ‘When it comes to those principles that govern and control us in daily habit it were well for us to lay aside every weight, to oéetmon of our cargo that which is vital or essential. the nomination of Dwight W. Morrow, 8 repeal wet. In Pennsylvania the remarkable, even if remote, possibility which now exists of the defeat of the Republican candidate for Governor, Gifford Pin- chot, could never have occurred except through the defection of wet Repub- licans to the wet Democratic candidate, John M. Hemphill. In Delaware the senatorial contest is outrightly between wet and dry, with wetness represented by T. F. Bayard, Democrat, and dryness by D. O. Hast- ings, Republican, and with most of the national professional betting, for whatever it may be worth, on Hastings. In Ohlo, contrariwise, in a similarly outrightly wet-versus-dry senatorial contest between R. C. McCullough, Re- publican, dry, and R. J. Bulkley, Demo- crat, wet, the national professional bet- ting, worthy or worthless, is on Bulkley. In Montana in the face of local efforts to supplant T. J. Walsh, Demo- crat and dry, by A. J. Galen, Repub- lican and wet, Mr. Walsh—like Mrs. McCormick in Illinois—has become a referendry. In the State of Washington a certain State-wide aspect has been given to the tion by wet declarations in the State platforms of both political parties. ‘There are wet-versus-dry local congres- slonal district contests in many other States. The States mentioned in this dispatch are only those in which the contests have some State-wide meaning, plus those in which, aside from present contests, local sentiment has refused to co-operate legislatively in eighteenth mendment enforcement. Among these | States thus here mentioned the genu- | inely doubtful and debatable ones from | the political party standpoint for the | next presidential election have a total {of 160 electoral votes. That is ap- | proximately 30 per cent of the whole | presidential electoral college. Hence, Capital Sidelights BY WILL P. KENNEDY. ‘We are approaching the bicentennial, on November 15, of Baron von Steu- ben, to whom Gen. Washington gave especial credit for the victorious out- come of the American Revolution, and who, in fact, while commanding in the trenches, first received Lord Cornwallis’ offer of surrender at Yorktown, the sesquicentennial of which is to be impressively celebrated next year. In commemoration of this bicentennial there is now in use a postage stamp bearing the likeness of Baron von Steuben, which was issued last Sep- tember, and local celebrations are to be held far and wide throughout the country. ‘Under date of October 19, there ap- peared in the newspapers a cable from Berlin u&lng,‘ “The Steuben Society in connection with the general’s birth- day anniversary convoked a meeting in the Reichstag Building today to commemorate Von Steuben's services to Germany and the United States,” and mentioning that there were pres- ent many distinguished men, and also descendants of Steuben. In order to keep history straight, Representative R. Walton Moore of Virginia, who has made a careful study of Von Steuben's career because so large & portion of his aid to the American cause was in Virginia, calls attention that this dispatch was in- accurate in making reference to descendants of Von Steuben, since he came to this country without being married, and remained single to the time of his death. Representative Moore also points out thet it would seem that those who were responsible for the meeting in Berlin were likewise in error if they assumed that he was born on October 19. For a time there was uncertainty as to the date of his birth, but from a most careful investigation made years ago by principal German biographer, Friederich Kapp, it came to be known that he was born on November 15, 1730, at Magdeburg, a large Prussian fortress on the River Elbe, and this has been accepted by subsequent writers as the true date. Thus the 200th anniversary of his birth is still a fortnight away. It is possible, however, that it was the purpose of the meeting in Berlin to commemorate Steuben's service at Yorktown, where Cornwallis surren- dered October 19, 1781. Regardin| that event, it is stated that to Steuben, who was then commanding in the trenches, the offer of Cornwallis to swrrender was_first made; that the following day Lafayette sought to re- lieve Steuben from command, but the latter stated he must remain because it was the custom that an officer re- celving such an offer should continue in ch until the conclusion of the negotiations, and that this view se- cured Washington's approval. So Steuben held the front until the terms of_surrender were finally d. If there was any serious doubt about the high qualities of Steuben as a man and soldier, it would disappear in the light of Washington's unreserved com- mendation of him after the Revolution ended and the treaty of 'ace Was signed. ~ Washington, having taken leave of his officers New York, journeyed to Annapolis to return his commission as commander in chief to the C , which was in session at that place. On the morning of De- cember 23, 1783, just before his recep- tion by Congress, ‘ashington wrote Steuben as follows: “This is the last letter I shall write while I continue in the service of my eoun:? ‘The hour of my resignation is fixed at 12 today, after which I shall become a private citizen on the banks of the Potomac. * ¢ * Although I have taken frequent opportunities both in public and in private of acknowledging your great zeal, attention and diligence in per- forming the duties of Imu‘ office, yet I wish to make use of this, the last moment of my public life to signify in the strongest terms my entire appro- bation of your conduct and to express my sense of the obligations thhens' lic is under to you for your faitl and meritorious service.” In his grateful reply to this letter, Steuben, who had never faltered in his lconfldence lln nngh de’vouon to w";lh ngton, realizing the importance attached to such deliberate and sig- nificant praise by the leader of the Revolution, spoke of Washington's letter as “the most honorable testi- mony which my service could have received.” Frederick the Great and Washington were the two outstanding military men of their period, and Steuben was the only soldier who served conspicuously under both of them. This fact was stressed in his reply to Washington's letter, when he said: “After having | primarily, the intentness with which both parties wétch next Tuesday, (Copyright, 1930.) /20 Nations Carrying Insurance for Jobless BY HARDEN COLFAX. ‘The strenuous demand for jobs and | the not less strenuous efforts to supply those jobs In the last week have drawn the attention of Government officials and economists as well as of business men to the possibilities which lie in the fleld of unemployment insurance. Deep study is being given this sub- ject, and while it is one which has not attracted wide interest heretofore, ex- cept among economists, it is far beyond | the experimental stage in a good many | foreign countries. Twenty countries | have unemployment insurance systems in effect, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor. The first national insurance act was put into effect in Great Britain in 1911. Even before that time, however, the | trade unions of the country and of cer- tain continental nations had estab- lished the policy of paying regular al- lowances to members who were out of work, and later unemployment relief was granted by municipalities in sev- eral countries or additional funds were made available by the municipalities for the trade union payments. ‘This subsidizing of trade union un- employment funds by municipalities and communes was taken up by France in 1905 and by Norway in 1906. In 1907 Denmark put into effect what is known as the Ghent system, whereby the state rather than the cities added to the unemployment funds. This 15 ed as the forerunner of compul- sory unemployment insurance on a na- tional scale. The object of the insurance schemes in the 20 foreign countries is, of course, the immediate relief of unemployment, but in some instances the systems pro- vide for training workers in jobs for which there is a better demand during periods of enforced idleness. Many of the systems provide for the construction of needed public works to take all the surplus of workers. The Queensland, Australia, system 15 compulsory and provides for the estab- lishment of & fund supported by equal payments of the government, the em- ployers and the workers. 1In Austria the unemployment insurance law passed in 1920 provides for compulsory insur- ance for all wage earners with the vx- ception of certain classes. The costs of the system are divided between em- ployers and employes and may not ex- 75 per cent of the normal contri- bution of the sickness insurance. Bel- glum has a voluntary system applying to the workers in all trades. The state contributes 6625 per cent and the work- ers 33Vs—per cent. In addition many of the Belgium Communes voluntarlly give subsidies to the fund. In Bulgaria, domestic servants and employes in the public service are ex- cepted from benefits. Workers, emplov- ers and the state contribute jointly. In Czechoslovakia, the employers do not contribute and the system Is voluntary. In Finland, benefits are paid workers up to a period of 90 days 1a each con- secutive 12 months, but after the maxi- mum amount has been paid for three years the yments are suspended for one year. gnployeu do not contribute. The French government subsidizes t! voluntary unemployment funds, though there 1:?.11 system of unemploy= studied the principles of the military art under Frederick the Great and put them into practice under Washington; after having deposited my sword under the same trophies of victory with you, and, finally, after having received this last public testimony of your esteem, (he;e remains nothing for me desire.” ——.es Costly Projects. From the Boston Evening Transcript. Brazil moves to restrict the outflow of capital, which is & reminder that it takes a lot of money to finance revolu- tions. —— e Staying on the Outside. From the Jackson Citizen Patriot. One reason there are not more gov- ernmental upsets in Europe is that con ditions are so bad the opposition party doesn’t want to get into the mess, ———— —mnm Doubts, Prom the Asheville (N. C.) Times. There seems to be some doubt in Wall Street whether the bears propose to | hibernate at all this Winter season. ment insurance other than the social insurance law. The French subsidies, however, apply only to a 60-day benefit in a period of 12 months. Germany has a system of compulsory unemployment insurance which ~was established in 1927. This applies to all classes of workers and involves com- pulsory health insurance and compul- sory old age and sickness insurance. The crews of vessels and seasonal woskers also are included. About 18.- 200,000 workers are insured against unemployment in Germany. In Great Britain, under the amended unemploy- ment insurance system, there is com- pulsory insurance of all employed persons except those under 16 und over 65_years of age. Each province in Italy has separate insurance funds created by decree and groups of provinces have special funds, but the general management of these is vested in a national insurance fund. Unemployment insurance is compulsory for all wage earners of both sexes over 15 and under 65 years of age, with a few exceptions. In Luxemburg the state advances the funds necessary “for benefit payments and recovers a fourth of the amount from municipalities and one-half from employers and workers. Mexico decided in 1929 to establish a fund to be formed by grants from public authorities and compulsory con- tributions from civil servants and agri- cultural and industrial workers. These contributions are effective on wages higher than $2.50 gold per day. The amount deducted is limited to two days’ wages from each worker liable to con- tribution. In the Netherlands the state con- tributions vary from an amount equal to that paid by the workers up to twice that sum. Half of the amount paid by the state is recovered from the com- munes. Employers do not contribute. In Russia the employers bear the entire cost. The Spanish system is voluntary, but is subsidized by the State and applies only to workers whose annual earnings do not exceed $661.30. Switzerland pays 40 per cent of the total of the voluntary unemployment funds, which are administered by joint bodies of employers and workers. The he ' systems of Poland and Norway also are subsidized by the state. (Copyright, 1930.) Chinese Censor Foreign Films BY FREDERIC That all mankind everywhere the world over is akin in its sensitiveness to ridicule has been manifested anew by the establishment of motion picture censorship in China. Practically the prime tenet of the censorship code of the Celestials is that no film tending to reflect upon the Chinese “even in & spirit of humor” (as the law reads) may be exhibited. To the American people, the greatest movie fans in the world, this pro- nouncement may seem curious. —Since the time Bret Harte published “The Heathen Chinee,” and probably earlier, Americans have regarded the Chinaman | butt of humor and often unkindly ridi- cule. This spirit was strongly fostered by two ruling éircumstances. First, the Chinaman seemed to the average Amer- ican the most outlandish of people. His manners and customs, his appearance !and dress, his sing-song language and the fact that he did not assimilate all marked him as utterly different and strange. Second, he was almost wholly excluded from entering the United States. This fact, widely known to the people, hung about him a veil of un- desirability and inferiority and therefore made him & proper target. It might very pertinently be added that his gentle, non-resistant acceptance of an ostracism which often rose to the pitch of persecution encouraged bully- ing. He never Ioutll:e back, but accepted all manner of Indignities with sub- mission. His universal entry into the laundry business, & somewhat menial calling as conducted by him, did not raise him in the social scale. His names were so curious that he accepted without demur the universal appellation of John. Chil- dren still run after a Chinese in the streets crylng “John, John, the China- on.” It was inevitable that the motion pictures, seeking to reflect if not quite interpret American life, almost invari- ably depicted him in either a comic or a sinister guise. So, many Americans doubtless will hear with surprise of a censorship in China which says: You shall not make fun of & Chinaman. Some will regard such an attitude as effrontery on the part of the patient, gentle John. Motion picture producers are finding out, how- ever, some to their cost, that the game does mot wnrk“l{n calm andy that if Chinamen are ng pa b they are not going to see themselves ridiculed—not “even in & spirit of humor.” Ban Undesirable Features. It is not other than natural that the opinions of many Americans should be formed solely by the news they read from China. The news which travels fastest and is most widely read is the news of violence. For more than a decade the principal news out of China has been news of warfares. The Boxer uprising has not been forgotten, and since that time there have been constant reports of how army has been contending against army in a struggle he unification of the nation. & Tales of the kidnaping of American | missionaries have filled newspaper pages. Tales of innumerable wild and rapacious and merciless bandits have been 1 So ‘:mf:mher clause of the Chinese as & particular and especially legitimate | for control of provinces and, finally, for J. HASKIN. censorship law may come to Americans as a surprise. It reads: “Films in which crime or violence d the use of firearms by evil-doers form the chief attraction are p: Other clauses relate to flims likely adversely to affect morals, In view of what the American people have for 80 long thought to be typical China, the clause which prohibits the show= ing of films “which promote super- stitious beliefs, heretical doctrines or feudal theories” may also appear sur- prising. The grotesque masks and the idols and all the other curious and exotic paraphernalia of Oriental modes seem not to have been properly inter- preted in some films which have been sent to China. The stage itself, it must be remem- bered, has for many, many centuries occupied a place not far removed from sacredness in China. Acting is one of | the oldest arts of that oldest nation in ! the world whose civilization antedates that of the Occident by unnumbered centuries. Theatrical Profession Honored. ‘The position of actor in China in any instances has been an hereditary holding .special favor with people of all degrees. Plays chiefly have historical and religious back- | grounds. Many have been played since | hundreds of yeass before Willial | Shakespeare was born and still a hailed with delight by the populact The longest runs known to the Ameri- can stage—not excluding “Uncle Tom's Cabin” or “Abie’s Irish Rose"—are but one-night benefits in comparison with the Chinese performances. Like a child who best likes to hear the bedtime story he has heard the most often, the Chinese people best like their most ancient plays. This tradition has not prevented & remarkable invasion of China by the motion picture and the censorship may be regarded as almed chiefly at Ameri« can films, because of the 450 to 500 which are being imported a year from all sources, 90 per cent come from the United States. That the screen repre- sentations are so well received despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of auditors can neither read the caption lines nor understand the English words in sound pictures, is that the native Chinese play is largely pantomime. Recently, & new element has entered in that native companies are cing a few fllms based on the old Chinese plays and, if sound pictures, employing the Chinese tongue. Technically these films are inferior to the American spec- tacles, but an analysis of box office re- ceipts of theaters uhnwing rmlgn and native films reveals that when a Chinese film is exhibited it draws the greater patronage. Considering the fact that there are 450,000,000 people in China and that it has been proved that the Chinese like motion pictures, it is conceivable that China may some day become the great- est single film market in the world. ‘There are 233 theaters with an aggre- gate seating capacity of 136,000 and all are constantly well patronized. Nearly 5,000,000 linear feet of film a year is being sent to China from the United States. The surface has barely been scratched. “ But the American fllm producer must bear in mind that in making pictures for the Chinese he must not ridicule John the Chinaman. Fifty Years Ago In The Star hington were displa; & keen in- b Plerest in- . ds- Vs. Pallman Co. Railzoad and e llman company over validity of g-“unu, which flynllly developed in a lawsuit. In its issue of October 29, 1880, The Star makes the following edi- torial comment on the case: “As a rule the public does not con- cern itself much with lawsuits between and the Pullman Palace Car Co. touch- ing the validity of the patents claimed by the latter. In one way and another the Pullman company has managed to monopolize about every improvement that contributes to the comfort of mod- ern railway passengers, and, as is usual in such cases, it has made them pay extortionate rates for such accommo- dations as it afforded, and with which travelers could not very well dispense. If it shall now be shown, as it probably 10| will be, that the most of its claims can- not be sustained and that every railway company has the right to build and put upon its line substantially such cars as it pleases, a great point will be gained. At least the excuse of royalty to be paid can no longer be put forth for charging as much for a mere sleeping berth for able lodgings and full board in & re- spectable hotel for 24 hours.” * * * “Last week we gave the admirable report of Lieut. Hoxie to Engineer Com= missioner Twining Report on Street says an editorial i ‘The Star of it Improvements. p.:°35 1880, “upon the drainage and sewerage of the Dis- trict, and today present the like valu- able report of Lieut. Greene upon the surface operations of the District En- gineering Department, the work upon the streets, roads, parking, etc. Both at home and abroad Lieut. Greene has established a high reputation for ability by his lately published books upon the Russian army, and the present report is well calculated to sustain that reputa- tion. He explains clearly all about the different pavements in use here, how they are made, and which of them in the light of experience have proved suitable for the conditions of wear and climate in Washington. The onerous nature of the burden of taxation upon the pengle of Washington in conse- quence of the very small population and small revenue to the amount of the streets to be kept up is shown. Thus the city has 164 miles of streets im- proved or partially improved in an area of nine and one-half square miles, and for a population of 150,000, whose total revenues, including that contributed by the General Government, amount only to $3,280,000 per annum. There are in Washington 44 miles of smooth surface pavement, considerably more than ex- ists on the roadways of all other cities in the world taken together. The I amount of excellent work, economically done upon the streets and roads of the District, is certainly creditable to the Board of Commissioners, and especially to Maj. Twining's Engineer Department. “One of the excellent recommenda- tions by Lieut. Greene is that in regard to compelling the telegraph companies to remove all their unsightly poles and to cause their wires to be laid under- ground. ‘There are now no less than 1,266 of these clumsy poles in Washing- ten, and the cvil from them and th myriad wires suung upon them is already great and will increase vastly in a few years when the immense number of young trees on our streets have at- tained such a height that the wires cannot with safety be placed on poles above them. It is shown conclusively that there is no difficulty whatever in laying the wires under ground. The use of underground telegraph lines is quite general in Europe. No telegraph Half & century ago the residents of {B. & 0. Railroad pute between the ' Baltimore & Ohio corporations, but it has a considerable interest in the litigation now pending | between the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad a single night as will pay for comfort- | Business Seen on Eve Of Decline in France BY GERVILLE REACHE, A Poremost Journalist of France. It is currently believed that France has been spared in the world crisis and is passing through the present depres~ sion period without suffering the slight~ est harm. Here is the real situation: | As in America, the crisis in France began with the Stock Exchange crisis. | As early as March, 1929, long before the | slump hit Wall Street, the Paris market | began & ceaseless decline and losses to | Prench stockholders’ fortunes were &t | least equal proportionatety to those of American or British shareholders. | The official index of shares with & variable return decreased from 548 in February, 1929, to around 400 in Octo- | ber, 1930, and as this index is based on 300 of the best stocks listed on the Bourse, it may be considered that this reveals the reality only in part. Several banks—of the second cate- gory, it is true—have been stricken in Paris and the failure of one weighed very heavily on the end-of-October liquidation on the Bourse. The chief argument advanced in con= nection with French prosperity is that the country has no unemployment. But it must be remembered that this coun= try always has lacked labor since the ‘World War, :xee&; during the crisis of 1921. It has 2,000,000 foreign laborers employed, who give a certain elasticity to its labor market. It is only since last June that the equilibrium has been upset and a clear out-and-out regression been noted in the economic field. The falling off of exports has been considerable in the | past_eight months; the index of the | volume of exports is lower by 24 per cent. compared with the average of the previous year. In particular, iron and steel exports have regressed almost without interruption for the last three years to the extent of 30 per cent, ex- ports of cotton yarn 60 per cent and those of cotton cloth, 30 per cent. The textile industries crisis is self- evident. After a five-week strike work has only partly been resumed. “Lux- " industries also have been much &?;c'fid by the slowing down of tourist traffic. The wheat crop has fallen to 63,- 000,000 hundredweight from the 90,- 000,000 hundredweight of last year. Other crops also are mediocre and prices to the producers have dropped considerably without the consumers benefiting in any way. Precisely in this.Jatter fact Yes the principal indi- cation of the economic crisis which threatens to be exceedingly severe in France next Spring. Whereas prices have fallen throughout the rest of the world, prices in France still imper- turbably follow the ascending march with salaries. ‘This phenomenon is very characteristic in the matter of French industrial coal, which has re- mained pegged at an index base of 620—the base in 1913 was 100—whereas English coal landed in French ports fell 10 per cent in the course of a year. In order to avoid dismissing workers, many firms have continued to produce goods for stock purposes: but. despite the seasonal trade which lasts until Christmas, sales are becoming difficult even in the internal markets. A rather accurate indication of the situation Is furnished by the automotive industry, where used cars are unsalable. If there is added to this survey the railroads’ deficit of $64,000,000 and the extremely marked decline in ‘colonial produce, which bids fair to ruin a part of the French colonial companies, it cannot truly be said that France is rich and prosperous amid the gen- eralized crisis. If she is suffering less from it than her neighbors, it is due entirely to a_ certain rmony in her production, which is ly agricultural and partly industri d to !uvm resulting from the recent mone restoration and to the reconstruction of factories destroyed in the war. But these factors have now pla) their parts out and France, like other coun- tries, is about to know the stern reality pole is to be seen in London, Paris and other great cities, and there are today more than a th iles of under- ground lines im Success! ration in Europe. ~The expense is ewhat greater thas In the system of ing the wires an poles, but, as justly by Lieut. Greene, no question of it ought to allow the streets and trees go be sacrificed to the telegraph lines.” ted | of the general economic slowing dow®. (Copyrisnt. 1930.) Dollar Loquacity. From the New London Day. ‘When the $250,000,000 Rockefeller radio city is opened in New York we'll have new evidence that the dollar talks. Let's hope, at least, that.its voice ix melodious and free from static. v -