Evening Star Newspaper, November 10, 1930, Page 8

i THE EVENING STAR [Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY. ... .November 10, 1930 THEODORE W. NOYES. ...Editor ———— per Company ivania Ave. 4 Rate by Carrler Within the City. e 45¢ rer month *u- ‘Siar W] 60c oer month e Wi S o pes T £ coby ade ¢ach month. ay be sent in by mail or telepnons Rate E hb—hm"bg in Advance. day i A 18 Member of the Associal Associated Press s exclusively entitled | use for republication of all News « credited 1t or not otherwl: this paper and also the 8 R g The Street Car Problem. ‘The difficulties encountered by the street railway corporations in making both ends meet have brought to light & good many tractlon experts who might never have been known. them advise the companies to fare fn half. Others suggest the street cars and buying Others believe that merger of will usher in the millennium e pomp and ceremony, while are convinced that nothing but will continue until the street car leave the surface, burrow under- and become subways. is unanimity of opinion, how- ever, on one point. That s that the corporations, by increasing fare to ten cents without attempt- gy 22 , succeeded only in pavements and the taxicabs. The ten- cent fare promises no great increase in revenue. The taxicab business seems to be flourishing, and & business that shows such gains in popular esteem and can be attributed now the lack of adequate regulatory laws. is already apparent to the public, Jeei il i i I n i 2 4 § £ h i lous | ; H 3 R § il ; £ 18 éEfi% E5g §§§§i§§§ they are entitled. A con- it conditions for any of time is unthinkable, for i i § rays depends on their wave lengths. | radiators of many of us are prac- in a dead, flat calm. Rl [ b 4 Democrats not to organize either House, or that it would be to HH Congress to their old political oppo- ments, is a case in point. have control of the legislative branch of the Government, would dodge responsi- bility and at the same time would be | Or, from the other point of view, that | willing to assume the responsibility of controlling the legislative branch of the Government during the next Congress, even though a Republican President re- mains in office, they might as well de- clare to the people that they are inef- fective. Democratic control of the House or the Senate, or both, would be no more of a threat to the administration’s program than the coalition of Demo- crats with Republican insurgents, such as operated in the Senate during the past session of Congress. The Democrats quite naturally have sought to win an actual majority in the House and in the Senate in the c paign just closed. The psychological ad- vantage of carrying the House or the Senate in an off-year election, with the opposition party in control of the Na- tional Government, necessarily is great. 1t gives the party winning such control greater prestige with the people. To merely come close to winning control !is not so good. The palm goes to the runner who crosses the line first in any race, not to the man who comes in sec- ond, even though he may have lost by & fraction of an inch. The tenacious manner in which the Democratic high command, represented by Jouett Sheuse, chairman of the Democratic National Executive Committee, continues to insist that the Democrats will organize the House in the next Congress would seem to be sufficient evidence that the Democrats actually desire, and in no half-hearted way, the actual control of the House. The Republicans, on the other hand, will be overjoyed if their slender lead in both House and Senate, as shown by the datest returns from the clection, stands up. Even though the G. O. P. has suffered many reverses in many States, if it shall have triumphed na- tionally, with the assistance of the so- called progressive Republicans, by win- ning a majority of the House, the blow will have been lessened many times and the sting removed to a large extent. TR A Good Beginning. A good start has been made in or- ganizing Washington for unemployment relief this Winter. The Commissioners have chosen an outstanding member of the community, Frederic A. Delano, as chairman of the committee of citizens to direct the work. Mr. Delano has ful- filled many important assignments in public and private office and with out- standing success. He possesses the con- fidence of the city and the experience that fits him for a difficult task. His position es honorary president and one of the prime movers in the Community Chest naturally establishes a liaison that will be valuable. Part of the re- lef of unemployment lies in finding work; an equally important task is the provision of charity. The value of capable organization to cope with the problems anticipated this Winter is that the groundwork may be prepared in advance by a suitable sur- vey of the extent of local ramifications of Nation-wide employment. Washing- tonians should be told, frankly and without fear, what the conditions are. There are, of course, the immediate problems accompanying an extraordi- large “floating” population; men who drift from city to city without hope of employment and look- meal and & bed. Col. Grant to the front with the old St. a bullding that can be , under suitable super- & temporary housing place for drifters. It is not be- t such expenses as heat and for this ancient hostelry will be difficult to meet. The Volunteers of erica, & Nation-wide charitable or- ganization, presumably has plans of its in this connection, and the local ittee of Washingtonians will find from that quarter. In addition, Central Union Mission, Salvation , the Municipal Lodging House other such agencies will be able to care for the usual army of drifters, to- gether with the recruits gathered under the banner of unemployment. ‘The more difficult task is the relief of suffering brought about by the in- ability of resident breadwinners, with dependent families, to find work. Wash- ington 1is fortunate, in that the number of these is relatively small. There are no large industrial plants here, with their slashed pay rolls and lay-offs, and the city's largest employer, the Federal Government, has an unusually large pay roll because of the census work. Such facts may be considered without minimizing the importance or the grav- ity of conditions in Washington. Much can be done by organized effort to find or to make work and select deserving men for the jobs. One of the greatest contributions to expect from the city, as a whole, is quick and generous sup- port of the Community Chest. ‘The proposal tentatively sounded by Dr. Havenner of the Federation of Citizens’ Associations, regarding a $25,- 000,000 loan to the District from the Federal Treasury, would, of course, re- quire congressional sanction. But it would be unfortunate to confuse the important subject of plunging the city into debt with the problem of ade- quately dealing with a temporary con- d'tion of acute depression and attend- ant unemployment. The expenditure of such a sum, wisely, of course, and as funds in addition to the normal appro- priations, would require years. Before the money could be even apportioned i i ik | i H 5 HHT |among the various projects which it might finance, it is reasonable to be- lieve that employment conditions will have improved. The first thing on the program of the Citizens’ Unemployment Commit- tee should be a careful outline of the ‘Well, well, the Soviet is now thirteen years old! Old enough to know better, in fact. Tasker H. Bliss. Armistice day thoughts, always poign- | ant for the American people, are tinged with special sorrow this time because of the passing of another great World ‘War figure. Maj. Gen. Tasker H. Bliss has just responded to his last muster. Soldier and statesman, it was given to him to serve his country in high places THE lieve in & defenseress United £\ ftes or in an unarmed state anywhere. As a soldler, he had learned the horrors of war on flelds of action. He was, in his later years, a ceaseless crusader for a better method of settling international differences than by mill- tary force, though he consistently re- frained from the view that a warless world could be achieved merely by wish- ing for it. Disarmament, as the even- tual result of a steadily informed and educated public opinion, which should aim primarily at removing the causes of war before abolishing the machinery for waging it, was Tasker Bliss’ prac- tical ideal. Scon after America’s entry into the ‘World conflict in 1917, Gen. Bliss be- came chief of staff of the United States Army. He enjoyed the full confidence of President Wilson and Secretary of War Baker. The gigantic task of or- gamging the American Expeditionary Force was launched under Bliss’ active direction. It was always thought that he had much to do with the happy selection of Gen. Pershing as com- mander in chief of our fighting or- ganization overseas. When “unified command” of the al- lied and associated armies in France was brought about early in 1918 under Marshal Foch, Gen. Blisg was appointed as American military representative on the Supreme War Council at Paris. He became an influential participant in the activities of that body. After the armistice and as soon as President Wilson formed the American mission for the negotiation of peace with the central powers, Gen. Bliss was named &s the military member of it. All the distinctions that are within the reach of a professional soldier came to Tasker Bliss in the course of his seventy-six years of fruitful life. Schooled in the arts of war, he was spared to play a worthy role in the war for peace. In all things the motto of his alma mater, the United States Military Academy, was his guide and inspiration—“Duty, Honor, Country.” A grateful Nation bids him farewell. ————— . There is not only no dole in Italy, but it is also a fact that when a son of that sunny land complains fo the authorities that he cannot find a job he is provided with pick or shovel, trowel or hod so quickly that his breath is taken away. The verse of the well known old ditty, “O, why don't you work like other men do? How the heck can I work when there’s no work to do?” does not go at all in the year 9 B.M. — e An official of the Carnegie Founda- tion for the Advancement of Teaching declares that the laws in the United States are so mixed that more lawyers are needed here than in any other na- tion. We have long had this prepon- derance of lawyers and some go so far as to state that this is the reason why the laws are so mixed up. Local public utility and trafic of- ficials are said to be perturbed at the prospect of a new taxicab fleet of midget motor vehigles. If a patient man can train a flock of fleas, however, they should take courage. —————— A plant expert has succeeded in evolving a new blackberry which, among other qualities, is sald to be “firmer than the ordinary blackberry.” Its firmness, in the minds of most, is | the great disadvantage of the regular old-fashioned sort. .. It is easy to spot thg veteran sports writer at this time of year. He can- not get out of the habit of occasion- ally slipping in some phrase like “long- haired gridiron warriors,” or “canvas- jacketed heroes.” ————— A St. Louis millionaire is to wed a former telephone operator. No matter on what basis they divide up the house- hold chores, it is almost a certainty that he will have to do all the phéne answering. e Naturalists tell us that nearly all bears are left-handed when it comes to the use of their front paws. Unlike most base ball “southpaws,” however, their control is great. " 'SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Paramount, ‘The sunshine lingers through the year; ‘Though Winter skies be chill and gray, From time to time there will appear A welcome wanderer fraught with cheer, A glad and smiling sunny day. Just as the Summertime pervades All seasons, spite of wind or snow, ‘The joy that smiles a while and fades, Like sunlight battling with the shades, Is more than all the griefs we know. Applause. “You don't attach much importance to the applause an orator receives.” “Not much,” admitted Senator Sor- ghum. “There is bound to be applause. You can't expect an audience to sit still all evening and do absolutely noth- Jud Tunkins says that as far as some reformers get is to make the interesting discovery that this is a wicked world. Advice. Advice that may be proffered Often fills & book. A million kinds are offered, But only one gets took. Self-Appreciation. “people very rarely know their own good or bad points.” “It's the same way with a turkey,” replied Farmer Corntossel. “He struts around showin’ off his feathers 'stid o’ braggin’ about how good he is to eat.” Alcoholic Anthology. “Did you ever see any sense in that old song, ‘Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes'?” “I never did,” answered Uncle Bill Bottletop. “Nobody I ever knew in the| old days was satisfled to say ‘Here's lookin' st you' without the customary accompaniment.” Pastry Persifiage. ‘The clown doth toss a custard ple In some one's face to make a hit. And no dyspeptic will deny 'Tis far more safe than eating it. ENING ST THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. How many words there are few of us know, except it be by them in the dic up some other word. ‘We chanced to be on the hunt for that interesting old English word, h, meaning a moaning, whistling, sound as of wind in trees. Right over in the next column (in the Concise Oxford) we chanced to see three words which instantly dis- tracted our attention. F They were: Soricine, sorites, sorn. Perhaps not one reader in a thou- sand will be able to define these words. Our personal guess was 100 per cent failure, and we would be interested to know the result from others. Soricine, we might have guessed, had something to do with witches—but it doesn't! Sorites, we imagined, were something chemical, but we were as far off as could be. Perhaps we associated iron pyrites with sorites. As for sorn, we had no more idea what it meant than a rabbit would. Had we hazarded a guess, we might have said that it is a waterfall or a gulley in Iceland, or something along that line. e i g Soricine, an adjective, according to the Oxford, is defined as follows: “Of, related to, the shrew-mouse.” So a soricine fellow would be a Beau Brummel of the fields, a dapper Danny Mesdowmouse, out for a m'ofl. It would be proper, perhaps, to brand some one that wou did not care for as of a soricine appearance, Surely it sounds rather bad. As for sorites, those who have made-| a study of logic as taught in formal courses may know all about it, but the writer here did not recognize it. The dictionary says: ., “Chain-syllogism (e. g, a cat is a quadruped, quadruped is an animal, animal is a substance; therefore a cat is a substance); form of sophism lead- ing by gradual steps from truth to ab- surdity and based on the absence of precise, especially numerical limits to terms (e. g, a man with only one hair is bald, therefore man with 2, 3, 4— 10,000 hairs is bald). So soritic d: Jective.” ‘The word comes through Latin from the Greek, sorites, literally heaper, in the instances given above a heaper of absurdity upon sbeurdlty. Surely every | ¥ one, no matter whether familiar witl the term or not, met one or more of these false arguers. You meet them in discussions of politics. Intuitively you realize that there is something wrong in their method, but you cannot precisely put your finger on the fallacy. It is a good thing, therefore, if one happens to know about this old word, sorites, in itself a striking example of betterness, if one may coin a word, of knowledgé over ignorance. Think how easy it is to floor a sophist, if one can swing into play this good dictionary knowledge! Surely such examples as given above, even if they do not pre- cisely fit, weuld do a great deal, even in 2 political argument, to keep the other fellow from carrying his argument too far, e 4 We have left sorn, an intransitive verb, which practieally nobody uses, and perhaps few could define, but which pictures a person, or a group of persons, or a happening, with whom or which almost every one is familiar. “Sorn,” says our dictionary, ‘“‘Obtrude one’s self on (person) for bed and d. Hepce sorner.” ‘Ah, ha!” cried Grandmother Mc- Glink. “I have been entertaining sorn- ers all my life, then. People have been sorning on me ever since I set up house- keeping. When we moved to the big city, everybody in the old home town across | who knew my name decided to stay at my house when they dropped in to _see the sights. “They have sorned in the Byrln‘, Summer, Fall and Winter. They found good quarters, good food, all at no ex- pense and with a minimum of trouble. At first we were glad to do it. In fact, we grt of thought we had to do it. “We did not want any of them to go back home and say, ‘Yes, Mrs, McGlink has got so stuck up, since she moved to the city, that she is ashamed of her old neighbors. My, you should see her put- ting on airs! But we knew her when she was not so Bigh and mighty.’ “Yes,” went on Grandmother Mc- Glink, “if that is sorning, then I know all about it. Sorning is taking an un- fair advantage of a person in the name of old times. To be a good sorner, of course, one must feel that the one who is being sorned is genuinely glad to have one around. “Some folk say that not even rela- tions ought to stay longer than two weeks on a visit, but the sorner born feels that no length of his or her charming company is too great. To be a good sorner, I guéss, one has to be born that way.” * kK ‘We got to dipping around in the S section, by all odds the largest in the Big Book. Here was solferino, Most ~people have heard of the Battle of Solferino, But as used with a lower case “s” the word indicates a purplish-red cGlor, which was discovered in the year of the battle. Solidungular animals are not seen on the streets as often these days as dur- ing the gay 90s. The heavy-sounding word means solid-hoofed, of the horse family, equine. Stow the word away, and trot it out on some unsuspecting acquaintance in a happy hour. It is guaranteed to do the business. And what or who is a solifidian? He is (or maybe was) a holder of the dogr trine that faith by itself suffices for salvation. Here is an architectural word which is a good one: Solive, meaning an in- termediate timber resting on the beams and supporting the planks of the qmr or celling. (Most people call ‘em Joists.) So long! Walt Whitman, the good ay poet, did as much as any one to introduce that gopullr phrase, equiva- lent to good-by. It really means “Good-by till we meet, again,” accord- ing to the dictionary, and “is perbaps a nautical corruption of salaam.” ‘Whitman, who loved to hang around the New York wharves, probably so got it. e A specktioneer, in case the reader doesn't know it, is a chief harpooner. Well, who cares, u‘mg?e "Vr\lle cur}(‘; time wrangling about the ranl me fishers. The word sounds too much like electioneer. Spatial is a fine, grand word, mean- ing of space; as, spatial relations, ex- tent, etc. A similar word, which now and then has a run, is factual. Several months ago one could not pick up a newspaper without running upon it. Everything suddenly became “factual.” A book was factual, they said, but often it turned out to be 4 plain bore. 8] r is a corruption of sparrow, eviJ:n ly purely English, but really not bad for one of these perky, pestiferous little fellows. ‘Words, words, words! -~ What inter- esting things they are! We think that Chinese characters are strange, yet our words are much the same. We get at a glance that “sough” is a noise, and th.lkt‘ “sought” is a form of the verb seel WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. President Hmm'kone-wm Jpost- election statement—about the “job” now before the country, i e., promotion of economic recovery — was &n after- thought. He had planned and actually prepared a considerably longer utter- ance. It was not essentially political, but, coming on the heels of the Demo- cratic landslide, Mr. Hoover decided that brevity was the better part of valor and withheld the document. Evi- dently an eleventh-hour pooling of White House and cabinet minds re- sulted in a determination to refrain from anything savoring of an alibi The kernel of the proposed announce- ment was that there’d been enough of politics and the time had now come to forget it. Im effect, that's what Mr. Hoover did say to the disappointed newspaper men Wwho assembled en masse in expectation of momentous words. If his heart was heavy over edection events, he successfully hid his emotions. In fact, the baffled scribes noted almost the broadest Hoover grin of the season as the President, enjoy- ing their astonishment, chuckled: “That's all.” e Southern Democrats of the type of Senators Swanson and Glass of Vir- ginia and Josephus Danjels of North Carolina are not throwing up their hats over the “pledge” by Messrs. Raskob, Shouse, Robinson, Garner, Cox, Davis | and Smith that the Hoover administra- | tion can count more or less blindly upon Democratic congressional sup- port. Swanson and Glass take refuge in significant silence on the statement of the seven self-appointéd guarantors | of Democratic good behavior. Daniels | assails it as “timidity.” | that reversal of Hoover policies, given the Democratic party in particu- lar “a mandate to repeal the Hawley- Smoot tariff without benefit of clergy.” With voices like these crying in the Democratic minority (or majority) wilderness, the signals seem to be set for stress and storm. * ok ok ok Not even the oldest inhabitant of | Capitol Hill can recall such wreckage in the Senate roll call as 1930 has pro- duced. In consequence of voluntary re- tirements and defeats in primarics or elections, no fewer than 18 present mem- bers of the Senate will disappear vari- ously on December 1, 1930, or March 4, 1931. They include Allen of Kansas, Baird of New Jersey, Blease of South Carolina, Brock of Tennessee, Deneen of Illinois, Gillett of Massachusetts, Goff of West Virginia, Gould of Maine, Grundy of Pennsylvania, Heflin of Ala- bama, McCulloch of Ohio, McMaster of South Dakota, Phipps of Colorado, Pine of Oklahoma, Ransdell of Louisiana, Simmons of North Carolina, Steck of Towa and Sullivan of Wyoming. Thus more than one-sixth of the Senate as constituted at this hour is headed for the inglorious limbo of the exes. * ok ok ok Last week, when newspaper headlines were screaming about Democratic con- trol of the House of Representatives, a Washington woman politician came forth with the ingenious p: that Al Smith should be elected Speaker. She bulwarked the sulvfl-lnn with a reminder that the Constitution does not require that the gavel be wielded by a member of the House. Article 5 of sec- tion 2 merely states: “The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other officers,” etc. Apart from what “Jack” Garner might think of a plan to hand the chair over to Al Smith or any other outsider, probably the question of the presidential succes- sion would provide food for thought. Also where Mrs. Smith would sit at dinner is an issue which might eventu- ally require Supreme Court arbitrament. * ok ok ¥ is enthroned in the Minnesota places at the executive end of Pennsyl- | the ue. shouldn’t the more than a figure of speech, why not Shipstead and Kvale in command, on Capitel Hill? * x x x Now that the election is over, guess- ing about the nature of the Wicker- commission's report is Washing- ton’s newest and favorite indoor sport. The game isn’t confined to capital. On November 7, a New York Stock Ex- change ticker spun a tape yarn to the effect that President Hoover had sum- moned a meeting of brewers at the White House for early consideration of ways and means for sudden resump- tion of beer manufacture. Up in Con- necticut, which has just gone guber- natorially wet, a corporation is being organized to reopen the old New Eng- land brewery at Hartford. The com- pany is headed by Richard Howell, editor of the Bridgeport Herald, who be- lieves that beer-brewing will be legal- ized “within two years.” No rumor has circulated at Washington with such persistency in years as the report that the Wickershammers will recommend and that Hoover will approve beer. R That pair of goggle-eyed fan-tailed Japanese goldfish, which is coming to the President and Mrs. Hoover as Christmas present from Tokio, will probably make its home on the Rapi- dan. Visitors to the President's camp unfailingly admire the novel table deco- | rations in the mess hall. At either end of the board Mrs. Hoover has placed | big glass bowl, some 3 feet long and 18 inches deep, filled with goldfish | of the most exquisite and rare varie- ties. Their capers afford endless amuse- ment at meal time. Capt. Boone, White House M. D.; “Larry” Richey and other Rapidanians claim to be on speaking terms with several of the shimmering beauties and the only ones for whom the fish will wriggle to the surface for a morsel. * koK “The Reminiscences of a Marine” is the modest title of Maj. Gen. John A.| Lejeune’s memoirs of a generation with | the Leathernecks. They embrace a strenuous life that began at the Naval Academy in 1884 and is now taking a more or less restful course at the Vir- ginia Military Institute, of which Lejeune became president in 1929. The 500-paged_volume is a gripping_ story of the globe-girdling experiences of one of Uncle Sam’s most romantic fight-| ing men. (Copyright. 1930.) oo Speeding Encouraged By Police, Is Claim From the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Methods of enforcing the prohibition law in many sections of the country have been denounced as encouraging violations of that statute. But prohibi- tion does not stand alone under this charge. Up'in Evanston, a Chicago suburb, a traffic officer has admitted a manner of enforcing the law against that must be an encourage- wment to the speeders. The traffic officer had arrested a woman driver and had charged against her that she was going 38 miles an hour. At the trial the accused testified that she had been by a couple of other drivers who of necessity were making more speed than she. The traffic officer admitted her contention.' He then said that she was the last of the speeders and he had to look after her case first. The others of course got away. Under this sort of enforcement of traffic ordinances or laws the only gullty person is the one who gets caught. bt Sl i) Dogs’ Ideas of Honors. From the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. It may be all right to award medals to dogs, but the es are that each of ‘winners prefer a bone. PR 0 o S AN Power of Environment. b fifl'flflm says college foot ball is overemphasized, but certainly n;"fis?m ’ WASHINGTON, D. C, MONDAY, NOVEMBER I The Political Mill By G. Gould Lincoln. Scarcely was the ink dry on the state- ment issued by “Big Seven” of tha Democratic party, pledging to President Hoover co-operation of the Democrats in Congress in connection with meas- ures “conducing to the weifare of the ‘when some of the Democnflcl country,’ [ leaders not included in this “Big Seven” | p, had their hammers out. Perhaps some | of them thought they should have becn consulted first, Josephus Daniels, Sec- | retary of the Navy in the Wilson ad- | ministration, in a telegram to the New York Times, takes a swat-'at the staiwc- ment of the “seven.” He is particularly | angry, it seems, because the “seven” have not swung hard enough at the Republican tariff law, which, Mr. Dan- | lels says, should be repealed by the Democrats as soon as they have the| T, ! tead,” Mr. Dantels continues, “it | (the statement, of the seven) approves | the Houston undemocratic tariff plank | and promises only to rid the country | of its (the Smoot-Harley tariff act's) | outstanding enormities. This reads like | timidity and lack of promptness and | courage.” | * oK ok ok Mr. Danlels, however, is out of tune with the high command of the Demo- | cratic party as it exists today. He rep- resents the old school of democracy of | the South, low tariff, prohibition, etc. 1t was not so long ago that Mr. Daniels was_demanding the resignation of John J. Raskob as chairman of the Democratic National Committee on the ground that Mr. Raskob thought more of the wet cause than he did of the ocratic_party. enator Thomas J. Walsh, newly re- elected Senator from Montana, in his first sentence approves unqualifiedly the :trltlelflenh of the seven, and in the rest message proceeds to pic smflne&t to piec%s. e “ e same time” says Senator Walsh, “I cannot too severely con- demn the view that in times of stress such as these there should 'be ready acquiescence in any proposals of the President professing to be offered to alleyiate or improve conditions, nor can I regard with equanimity the idea of looking exclusively to the President for the initiative in respect to remedial legislation. That duty rests primarily on_the Congress, not on the President.” Senator Walsh also suggests that the Democrats should go ahead and put through the debenture plan of farm relief, which the Hoover administra- tion looks upon as something worse than slow poison. * Kk ok ok Senator McKellar of Tennessee, an- other of the Democrats who were not included in the list which signed the Democratic statement, makes it clear that he is out to put some dynamite under the Smoot-Hawley tariff act as soon as the opportunity arrives, Judging from these egpressions of opinion by at least two of the Demo- cratic members of the Senate, the co- operation pledged by the Big Seven, on the part of the Democ: ats in Congress, may be uncertain, not to say nebulous, | when Congress meets. It begins to look as | though the country would see a prompt attempt on the part of the Democrat and insurgent Republican controlled | Senate, and a similarly controlled House |in the next Congress, to put the skids | under the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill |and to adopt the “debenture” plan | for the farmers. This is not exactly the kind of co-operation that the Re- publican administration is hankering for. Furthermore, moves of this kind are likely to use up nearly all the time of the Congress. The statement of | the Big Seven was moderate in tone |and constructive in direction. But it | does not seem to suit some of the Dem- ocrats, flushed with victory and intent upon running over the G. O. P. as fast as possible. * ok ok ¥ Senator Henry J. Allen-of Kansas is one of those members of the Senate whom election day took immediately out of the Senate. He was serving under appointment of the Governor of | Kansas. A personal friend of President | Hoover, it 1is represented that Mr. | Hoover would like to utilize Senator Allen’s abilities outside of the Senate. But Mr. Allen is not looking for an | appointive job at present, a job which | might lessen the blow of his defeat by | McGill, a Democrat. Indeed, Mr. Allen may undertake to stage a come-back in 1932, when there will be another fight | for the Senate seat from which he has Just been ousted, The former Senator from Kansas was the victim of circumstances. A large group of Republicans in the Sun- flower 8! were disgruntled because in the primary election a candidate for Governor was chosen who did not be- | long to the so-called progressive wing | of the party. Because of theim, dislike | for the Republican nominee; they came | out strong for the election of the Demo- | cratic_nominee. Even the newspaper | formerly owned by Senator Allen, and | in which it is said he still has an inter- | est, supported the Democratic nominee for Governor and so did the Kansas | Cily Star. Under such conditions it was_difficult to keep the old line, regu- lar Republicans of the opposing faction, lined up for Senator Allen. Vice Presi- dent Curtis and others did their best for the Republican senatorial candi- date. But their efforts were unavailing, with a part of the Republicans swing- ing into line for the Democrat and still others supporting an independent Republican candidate for Governor. | Senator Allen's serious illness, which kept him out of the campaign per- lsfi;;nnl]y, was another big handicap to * ok ¥ % ‘The week since the congressional elections were held has not y!{rexpked. but the scramble is already on for the Democratic nomination for President. Not by the possible candidates them- selves, perhaps, but by their friends and admirers. Roosevelt-for-President | clubs are organizing in New York and in Georgia, and propably in other States. Gov. Albert C. Ritchie of Mary- land is put forward as the logical and probable nominee of the Democratic party in 1932 by Albert Sidney Burle- son of Texas, former member of the House and Postmaster General in the Wilson Administration. Mr. Burleson | favors personally the nomination of Newton D. Baker, who served with him in President Wilson's cabinet as Secre- tary of War. But the former Post- master General is inclined to believe that Gov. Ritchie has the bulge, so to speak, on the nomination. Mr. Ritchie is likely to have a good deal of support in many sections of the country before |all is said and done. Gov. Roosevelt | in all probability will have to bear the | burden of Tammany, unless he should | break away from that organization be- ! fore long. There has as yet been no| sign of such a break. It is quite true | | that the charges of Tammany “‘corrup- tion’ 4 that Gov. Roosevelt has been | dominated by Tammany had little or no jeffect on the recent election in New | York except to make the Democratic organization of New York County work | harder than ever for Mr. Roosevelt. | But the end of the inquiry into condi- tions in New York City is not yet in sight. Much will depend upon what is | turned up by the ::v:st‘l‘zzwm * | _ The Democratic sweep on last Tues- day carried into office Democratic Gov- ernors in States which now have Repub- lican Governors. This was quite a turn- | over, out of a list of thirty-three States which chose chief executives this year. Various claims are made regarding wet gains in the House in the elections just held. A conservative estimate is that the wets gained 42 seats, giving them approximately 133 seats in House of Representatives. In the Sen- ate, however, although the wets won seats formerly held by drys, notably in is and usetts, the dent made in majority is not appreciable, so cerned. Another Use for Wheat. the dry far a8 numbers are con- | P! Readers of The Star can draw on all Government activities through our free information service. The world's greatest libraries, labora- tories and experimental stations are at your command. Ask any question of fact and it will be answered, free, y mail direct to you. Inclose 2-gent stamp for reply postage and address The Evening Star Information Bureau, | Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washing ten, D. C. Q. How old a game is backgammon? —W. N. A It was, says Grosvenor Nicholas, probably known in ancient Egypt and surely in Ur of the Chaldees more than 5,000 years ago. Q. How many hits did Boston make in the game Babe Ruth pitched against !hl‘DR(e:d Sox at the end of the season? A. The Red Sox made 11 hits off Ruth, 6 of them in the eighth and inth innings when Ruth was not ex- erting himself. Q. What proportion of the Demo- ratic vote in New York State is cast in New York City?—U. H. T. A. In the 1928 election about 53 per ernor of New York was cast in New York City. Q. What is a mule-foot hog?—T. W. A. This is a hog with an uncloven hoof, which is, as far as can be ascer- tained, of ancient African origin. This is not a result of cross breeding but is a distinct species. Mule-hoof hogs have been found in Germany and Scotland and in 1908 were brought into the United States. Q. How many electric light and pow- er plants are there in this country?— L K. J. A. There are now 4,063 operating systems in the electric light and power field, says the Market Data Book of 1930. Of these, 1910 are municipal systems and 2,153 are privately owned systems. Q. Was marriage before a magls- trate customary in New England?—T. A. D. A. It was the rule for generations. The Pilgrims held that marriage was a civil contract to be entered into before a magistrate. Q. How old was Joyce Kilmer at the time of his death?—J. K. R. A. Joyce Kilmer, the poet, was born on December 6, 1886, and was killed in the Baitle of Ourcq on April 17, 1918. He was not quite 32 years old. Q. What was used instead of a dic- tionary before there was such a thing?— B. L.D. A. Before there was a dictionary, peo- ple literally “did without.” Over 2,500 years ago the Assyrians had one of their languages pressed in cuneiform charac- ters on clay tablets. . One authority says: “The Arabians, the Greeks, and the Romans, too, compiled dictionaries; they did not make any attempt at giv- ing all the words of a language, but contented themselves with listing rare or difficult words.” Lexicons were a development of the Middle Ages. The first English dictionary which aimed at completeness was that of Nathan Bailey, published in 1721 and called the “Uni- versal Etymological English Dictionary.” Q. How large does the giant crab of Japan grow?—L. K. B. A. It is a so-called spider crab. About cent of the Democratic vote for Gov- | across, Q. What is done with the wal must come into & submarine when the inner door opened, and the water in the tube then rushes into the bilges of the submarine and is pumped out. Q. Please give a few of the facts about the newly discovered Pluto.—A. H. A. Present distance from the earth— 41 astronomical units, or 3,813,000.000 miles. Mass—Known to be smaller than at first belleved, but not computed. ‘Tentatively believed about the the earth. Orhn—uupum‘.mlu plane lanets at about 31 de; 2 g\k of orbit—Long m‘h 433 astronomical units, cr 433 times 93,000,000 miles. Times required for complete circuit of orbit—3,200 years. Length of time to remain in view of earth—Probably a century more. known planet, | it will then remain hidden—Roughly, 3,000 years. )iy Q. How is plate glass made?—G. H. F. A. Plate glass is essentially cast-glass rolled into its mold. It is produced in two qualities. The melted glass is ladled out of the furnace and transferred to a cast-iron rolling table. A roller moved with guides that decide the thickness of the plate, flattens it uut“ It is then annealed in the annealing kiln, which is very hot at the entrance, and gradually coo{s off. The ghu is then cut to size with a diamond. Q. When was the “Rosary” first sung?—J. K. O. A. The “Rosary” was first sung pub- licly in Steinert Hall, Boston, in 1898, Q. In what motion pictures has Ethel Barrymore appeared?—R. T. . W. T. A. She has played in “The l‘ghfll- gale, “The Awakening of elens RI;?hlr," “l'!l‘he ;{Imu R‘:lvsn.' "l': Lifted Vell,” “The Whirlpool . American Widow,” “The ml‘nj Moth~ er,” “Lady Frederick,” “Our Mms, Mo~ Chesney,” “The Divorcee” and “The Super-Woman.” ! Q. What did the Pulaski statue on Pennsylvania avenue in Washington cost? Is there to be a Pulaski stamp?— H G. i A. The statue cost $40,000. An addi- tional $5,000 was spent for the dedica~ tion and beautification of the Probably there will be & in the near future. Q. What is the of the motto of gmAer‘lnu of Wi “Ich Dien?"— A. In the Battle of Crecy, 1346, King John® of Bohemia aided his French ally, Phfllgeo! Valois. King John was and ordered some of his knights to lead him into the battle. The littie group was slain by men-at-arms of the Prince of Wales. The mctto of the valorous Bohemian ruler—“Ich dien"— meaning “I serve"—was adopted by the Prince of Wales. Q. Where does Perique tobacco come from?—J. L. B. L. B. A. It is grown in St. James Parish, Louisiana. Non-mflaaverth-r:’mnon are widely dis- cussed, particularly the plan for & referendum on prohibition. While it is suggested that an accurate referendum might be difficult without being made a part of a political contest, the subject is seriously ~considered. One objection raised in various comments is that Mr. Raskob, as a wet, has an interest in only one side of the question. “His propasal for a national refer- endum,” says the Roanoke Times, “Iis interesting and will have the support of a great number of citizens who are not particularly interested as to whether the country is wet or dry, but who are thoroughly disgusted with existing con- ditions and anxious to see the situation straightened out.” That paper, how- ever, believes that “Mr. Raskob is not the right man to lead the way, for his leadership will not be followed by many people who are willing to assent to some reasonable modification of the prohibition law, provided it is effected by the friends, and not the enemies, of prohlmll:xn + « + Mr. Raskob can- not by Thqe referendum, in the opinion of the Columbus Ohio State Journal, “would show beyond controversy how & majority of the people feel on the sub- ject.” The State Journal also makes the comment: “No informed citizen will prétend to be satisfied with existing conditibns, rampant bootlegging, open and flagrant violation of the law, and the general disrespect for many laws which has followed in the wake of pro- hibition enforcement.” * ok kK “Not alone among Democrats, but equ?uy among Republicans,” according to the Richmond News Leader, “there is a feeling that the time is approach- ing when the country should be asked to restate its judgment qt prombmm‘l, in the light of 10 years' experience. The News Leader continues: “If a ma- jority in Congress be found for & ref- erendum, & way of having a referendum will be devised. It would not be bind- ing on Congress. Not one dry State might be impelled by the registration of a wet majority in other States to modify its own prohibition code or to consent to the repeal of the eighteenth amendment. A referendum might be held and might produce o change whatever in the status quo. Yet many now contend that the country has a right to speak as a unit on a policy that is being applied to the country as a whole; and there is a belief that if it showed a wet m-j‘or!cy. lt:e re(e;erg‘;:n would be rsuasive Wi man! - gressmen a‘l)'led. in time, with legislators in the dry States.” While observing that Mr. Raskob's suggestions for the 1932 campaign in- clude action on the dry law, the San Bernardino Sun remarks: “Actually he did not demand repeal of prohibition. He suggested o referendum. However, his previous utterances on the subject make it plain what he means—he will require the Democratic party in 1932 to pledge repea of prohibition. * * * In San Francisco, the other day, it was suggested that the proposed new city charter make provision for the regula- tion of the saloon—in the event the saloon comes back. That shows how the wind is blowing. It is not moderation of prohibition that the wets really ex- pect, but actual repeal and that means the return of the saloon. That is why many people, who are not particularly impressed with the defects of the pres- ent prohibition set-up—and it must be admitted that there are defects—refuse to get excited over the wet program. What the wet leaders propose to give would only make worse the evils of pro- hibition that do exist.” In criticism of the wet program, the Lincoln State Journal believes that the pu is “to continue agitation until Drohibition 1s abolished" want_only a referendum that will ac- complish what they want, not one to hat _the sentiment of the ERaskob’s Referendum Plan For Wet-Dry Test Debated the decision? Does Mr. Raskob under- take to do thlt?'; A * Maintaining that each side would ite declares: “The reformer believes that his cause derives from & moral source, and therefore is sacred. The liberal believes that his cause is founded upon the canons of freedom and cannot be compromised or surrendered. Each for: is honestly convinced that it 1 fighting for a prumlrle which canno be sur- rendered without disastrous conse- quences to the cilable difference by Raskob recogn! he ignores the real motivation of the reformers.” ‘With the conclusion that “it is unfor- tunate for the party that there is such divergence of sentiment between the ex- ecutive head of the party in the and the leaders of the party many other States,” the Charlotte Ob- server says as to the sentiment for a referendum: “The Volstead act may be amended or repealed b&m without reference to the States or to . And it may be sald that only a majority of both houses w-uld be necessary to do away with this act, which would ly nullify the eighteenth amendment unless some other act were ted by Congress to provide for the enforcement of the amendment. It may be exg:chd. o0, that the Volstead act will Te] or amended when and if the wets gain control of both houses of Congress, but not before. Doubtless that is the pri- mary aim of the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, which has spent almost as much money in the present campaign to secure the election of wet Senators and Representatives, regardless of party affiliation, as both the political parties have spent to se- cure election of their candidates for the two branches of ess.” ‘The Ob- server concludes that “most of the lead- ers of party in North Carolina are unqualifiedly opposed to the Raskob gib , S0 far as it applies to pro- n.” The Buffalo Evening News feels that Mr. Raskob “has not set a noticeable ting his mind to the t which the people expressed in ; that “he merely has redoubled his efforts to persuade them to reverse their judgment.” The Rockforc Morn- ing Star suggests that he “permitted If to dream dreams” and that “his vislonary powers are mnot handi- capped by responsibility.” Summarizing the situation, the New Orleans Morning Tribune states: “Mr. Raskob pro) modification of the prohibition law to permit dictribution of milder drinks through legal chan- nels, subject to a liberal tax. This tax he conservatively estimates would not only add enormously to public revenue, but also would provide great markets for suffering grain farmers, cpen new avenues to legitimate labor, while re- lieving the country of the materially injurious effects of bad liquor mnow bonue&ged and of the morally destruc- tive effects of the more or less univer- sal example of lawlessness set by boot- leggery enjoyil so wide a share of silent "public toleration, and even ap- proval. It is significant in this con- nection that some of the commodity ‘markets rose sharply in Chicago and else- where a few days ago on a rumer that the Wickersham Commission was about to report in favor of modification of the prohibition policy and that the Hoover administration would follow such a rec- ommendation. Yet this report was not authenticated at all.” e On and On Into the Night. From the Hartford Dally Courant. According to Julius H. Barnes, the task of the United States in the it erisis of the world is to maintain its standard of I . The citizen will do his bit by radio go- ing whether he likes it or not.