Evening Star Newspaper, December 11, 1930, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR —_With Sunday Morning Edition. _ WASEINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY. . .December 11, 1930 THEODORE W. NOYES. ...Editor The E Star News) Compan; vening e Newspaper pany usi] 3 d P 2\ T:::“ofi Sfce: 110 East PO ndon, ropean 3 B England Rate by Carrier Within the City. . The Evenine Star. ... 45 per month e Evenin; d Sunday Star when ays) 2 nd Sunday Star (i ndays) .~.. 65¢ ger month Tre Suncay Star ... Sc per cnpy Collection made at the end of each month Orders may be sent tn by mail or felephone NAtional 5000. 60c per month Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday... 1 'r.s$10.00: 1 mo. 85c 1l ly .. .o £6.00: 1 mo.. 50c Bindas"on1y n All Other Stat only Sunday only and Canada. 1mo. 50c Member of the Associated The Associated Pre:s s exclusiv to the use for republication of Patches credited to it or not otherwise cred- ited in this paper snd also the local new Bublished herein. All rights of publicaticn of tpecial dispatches herein are also 1eserved. led s Per Capita Tax Burdens. ‘When the Bureau of Efficiency made | its first report on fiscal relations in | 1929 the findings were immediately capitalized by some members of the House as indicating the extreme gen- | erosity of the nine-million-doliar lump sum. That report placed a “(ax” of $7,440939 on Federal property here, and, while suggesting that a certain amount was in addition due the Dis- trict, left the amount unfixed. The last report of the bureau, how- ever, becomes a horse of another color. Federal holdings in the District have increased, raising the fictitious “tax” to $8,815, In addtion, the bureau actually computes the remainder due the District, bringing the total Federal obligation to $10,183,391—substantially above the lump sum. Now the bureau report is seen as an alarming proposal for the Federal Gov- ernment to tax itself, thereby creating a dangerous precedent. If it is not a proposal to tax the Government, it is & proposal to regard the Federal Gov- ernment as a private corporation, when it is a public, non-profit-making agency. All sorts of objections are raised. “I know what you're thinking about,” said Tweedledum to Alice in Wonde: land, “but it isn't so, nohow. Contrari- wise, if it was so, it might be; and if it were so0, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain’t. That's logic.” One of the points raised by the House Fiscal Inquiry Committee in its close examination of Mr. Murphy of the Bureau of Efficiency concerns the bureau’s justification for including Fed- eral holdings in Washington in making comparative estimates of Washington's per capita tax burden. Why not, it is asked, disregard Federal holdings en- tirely; proceed to find out the tax bur- den here regardless of Federal holdings and eliminate the Federal Government from the picture altogether? Why has the incidental presence here of the Fed- eral Government establishment any- thing to do with what the people of the District actually have to pay in taxes? Why cannot the tax burden be “ measured without regard to the Fed- eral holdings? Mr. Murphy has very properly point- ed out that any comparison of per capita tax burdens between Washing- ton and other cities is worthless unless “the comparison takes into consideration the Federal holdings, which in this case represent the hoidings of rich and powerful corporations contributing to the tax payments in other cities. And the answer to the question may be approached in another way. The per capita real property assessment in Pittsburgh is $2,424. That figure, of course, does not represent the actual assessment of the real property of each Pittsburgher. Ten thousand Pitts- burghers may each own that much, and one Pittsburgher (or a Pittsburgh cor- poration) own ten thousand times that much, and pay taxes accordingly. The per capita tax burden would show one figure. But actually it requires 10,000 Pittsburghers to equal the tax payment of one Pittsburgher who owns ten thousand times as much taxgble prop- erty as any one of them. Now—do for Pittsburgh what Mr. Mapes suggests be done in the case of Washington. Eliminate the ten-thousand-times-as- rich Pittsburgh corporation from the picture entirely. Leave out its property assessment and its tax payment. The ten-thousand-times-as-poor Pittsburgh- er’s taxes will not be affected one way or the other. His actual tax burden re- mains the same. The population of Pittsburgh (the divisor) also remains the same, but the tax levy figure (the dividend) is reduced, thereby reducing the per capita tax levy (the quotient). The decrease in the per capita tax levy figure denotes a decrease in the tax burden, where comparative statistics are concerned, although the taxes actually paid by the average Pittsburgher are not reduced. In Washington the Federal Govern- ment represents the large tax-paying industrial corporations of otier cities, whose holdings swell the assessment base and increase the tax levy and raise the per capita figures. To deduct the Federal holdings and the Federal con- tribution reduces Washington's per wapita tax burden, although it does not affect by a single penny the actual amount of taxes paid by the Washing- tonian. When the basis of comparison is the per capita tax burden—which is the most reasonable and practical basis —the Pederal holdings must naturally be included. If they are not, the only way to make the comparison fair would be to deduct from the tax payments of other cities an amount paid by a few corporations, or a single corporation, whose tax contributions are proportion- ately equal to the Federal Government contribution here. That would be a Zfoolish way to go about it, but no more so than omitting the Federal holdings and contribution here in computing the * District’s per capita tax burden for pur- poses of comparison. . e eaees Poison Alcohol. Por many, many years industrial al- eohol has been denatured by the ad- dition of poisonous wood alcohol in this country, in France, Germany, Eng- land and other nations, thus making it unpalatable and thereby escaping the internal revenue taxes placed on alco- holic beverages. With prohibition a great many persons in this country adopted the practip: of drinking any- 1y 34.00 1 mo., 40c | form, and when they drank denatured | alcohol they became blind or socught repose in the nearest cemetery. This Government was therefore accused of poisoning alcohol, the implication being !that the pcisoning was undertaken in the hope of trapping unlawful drinkers and punishing them by death from | poiszn. The science of chemistry was epparently biffied for a time in the task of finding a substitute denaturant that would serve the purposes without causing death. Sometime ago the prac- tice was adopted of denaturing indus- trial slcohol with “aldehol,” which was | described as tasting like “burnt crank case drippings,” but which would rot | cause death. Now sclence has produced a new marvel, a denaturant that tastes” like | a mxture of old eggs and girlic. This, { it is anncunced. will bs substituted ! for poisonous wood alcohol. Those why the clixir will not necessarily i face death. Whether they will face ! the neighbors remains to bs scen. t It is just a5 wrll that ths Covern- | ment has drovp>d wood alcokol as a | denaturant. A few trag=dies may thus be prevented. a lives saved, which makes it warth while. There may be some thirsty sculs who will be willing to undergy ordeal of swallowing a mixture that tastes like old egss and garlic If so, let them drink in peace. They have chosen thelr own | punishment. the Why No Treaty Navy? | The Nation’s eyebrows will be raised | over revelations before the House Naval Affairs Committee yesterday by Ad- miral William V. Pratt, Chief of Naval | Operations. He told the committee that Ihe doubts whether the United States Navy in 1936 will be even as large as the London limitation treaty provides and contemplates that it shall be by that time. | Why? The American delegation went to England last Winter to barter, and, if necessary, to battle, for parity with the British fleet. Secretary Stimson and his colleagues. by dint of patience and persistence, achieved that objective. They came home with the right to ex- |pand our naval establishment to the size of the most powerful Navy afloat. The right was to be exercised during the next six years, at the end of which time the sea powers are to confer again. Are we to do nothing with the parity for which we so determinedly con- tested? Is it to be paper, not steel, parity? Are we to fill the seas with blue-print ships instead of vessels mounting guns and carrying armor? Was our diplomatic success at London never intended_to be anything but a parchment triumph? The country is entitled to ask these Britten's committee. Doubtless there is an answer to them. It will be worth hearing. The average American, sur- veying the disordered state of the world in both hemispheres, is not likely to reach the conclusion that this is the time for the United States to shelve the advantages it secured in the London limitation pact. ————— A Fine Woman Flyer. Miss Ruth Nichols, the American avi- atrix, has set a fast transcontinental mark for others of her sex to shoot at. In fact, Capt. Frank Hawks, the world's best known speedster of the sky, may have to look to his lgurels. For Miss Nichols in actual flying time was only an hour behind Hawks in the twenfy- five-hundred-mile journey. Of course, Capt. Hawks’ record of twelve hours and twenty-five minutes is naturally more impressive because he flew the entire distance in one day. but Miss Nichols, who, incidentally, chopped more than eight hours off the previous woman's record, “stepped along” while she was in the air to hang up the new mark of thirteen hours and twenty-two minutes. Miss Nichols' flight was a one-stop affalr and, although that stop was an overnight one, it detracts none from the credit due her. She made the distance from Los Angeles to Wichita in seven hours and one minute, in the face of unfavorable weather conditions. Early yesterday morning she took off from the Kansas city and made one of the fastest flights, man or woman, on rec- ord to New York, setting her Lockheed- Vega, Wasp-motored ship down at Roosevelt Field in six hours and twenty minutes. Her speed from coast-to- coast was slightly less than two hun- dred miles an hour. Miss Nichols’ feat proves conclusively that given a fast plane, adequate in- struments and fair weather conditions, a good woman flyer will rank well up with the best of the male pilots. Women naturally lack the endurance of men, but when it is realized that Miss Nichols drove her fast ship without a stop for hops of six and seven hours, it would appear that she can stand com- parison even in this respect. Her ac- complishment, should be an inspiration to others of her sex. e Lectures on psychology are appropriate features of enterprises designed to sell lots in subdivisions. The high pressure salesman is himself a master psycholo- gist. | —— . A Purpose Fulfilled. Of art, as of almost everything else, it is true that one man's meat is an- other man's poison. This applies both to Mr. Average Citizen, whose favorite slogan is, “I don't know anything about art, but I know what I like,” and to the skilled and highly trained artist himself. The issue never can be settled, but it can be clarified, and one of the means of attaining this result is by the hold- ing at stated intervals of art exhibits, along either general or special lines, by art institutions of recognized standing, such as the Corcoran biennial exhibits of the work of contemporary American painters in olls. Such displays inevitably bring forth praise, blame, argument and even ardent condemnation, but they invariably bring about more knowledge, just as do auto- mobile shows and other industrial ex- hibits. Too often is the underlying pur- pose of such an event as the current Corcoran Biennial either misunderstood or lost sight of, although on each occa- sion the institution tries its utmost to make it plain. In the “Foreword” of the catalogue thereof, which it is probable that many spectators, in their eagerness to be either thrilled or shocked, may not have read, it is stated that the aim of the gallery officials is to present to the public an exhibition which “accu- rately reflects the trend of contemporary painticz in this country, which fllus- fl“m&mhmmummfllynmm ~— £ questions in the light of Admiral Pratt’s | | startling testimony before Chairman | American painters today are doing, which is broad and fully representative in scope and chardcter, and which in- cludes the best available works exem- plifying the different schools and phases as they now exist.” ‘Within recent years, it points out, the work of artists has undergone distinet | changes, and the past has demonstrated that such changes have invariably proved of importance, either positively or negatively. The good survives; the worthless is eventually disparded. The hope is expressed that the present dis- iplay will accomplish the fundamental purpose, which is, of course, demon- stration, and consequent increased | xnowledge. The question is often raised by many, jand invariably by a few, as to whethor {1t would not be an improvement if these | exhibitions were organized to meet pop- ular taste. Possibly it would—so far as appealing to popular taste is concerned. But they {and reiterated purpose if such were the case; they might, or might not, demon- {strate changes and vagaries in public taste, but they certainly would not demonstrate the changes and trends in artistic progress, or retrogressicn—call it what you will. And it is an axiom |that popular taste eventually follows | creative art, not the reverse. | The same divergence in opinion as {to certain entrles and certain prize whole, that obtains in the public mind is found also to a certain extent in the artistic mind, which includes both | painters and critics. Comments of the {latter might with aptness be termed “brickbats and bouquets.” Whatever the reaction of the éritic may be, the in- stitution or publication employing him or her sees to it that all the better known exhibits are visited and viewed in person. The seriousness with which these writers take their work is ex- emplified by the fact that one critic of high reputation actually flew to the National Capital in order to obtain the i proper personal slant on what is ad- mitted to be an art event of national importance. ¢ “The most modernistic has been shown in this country one, while another, equally sincere, de- clares over her signature, “Of all the canvases shown, only two or three could be termed radical.” If the critics them- selves differ, among themselves, how can the lay public be blamed for similar diametrically opposed opinions? The reply is that it cannot, and that it should not. But it should appreciate, as do the artistically trained, the un- derlying purpose for which such exhi- bitions are painstakingly orgahized. It must realize that the only proper and competent selectors of the entries there- in must, of necessity, be themselves painters. And in studying the paintings it should try w consider, in so far as possible, the viewpoinis of the painters themselves. A homely old phrase sums it up—where you are is not so impor- tant as which way you are going. The only way to know where American art is tending is Rot to sit at home viewing favorite paintings or books of familiar art reproductions, but to visit every pos- sible worthy exhibition with both eyes and mind wide open. e exhibit that Railway workers are no doubt inclined to take into consideration the fact that |a six-hour day will leave more time to work on the house and the garden in a way that will help to relleve the economic situation. ——— About the worst punishment endured by the Russian conspirators was being compelled to stand for hours before the microphone, with the knowledge that the letters of comment sent in would be uniformly unfavorable. —_— e A coalition in legislative circles is seldom effected without some delay for the discussion of the old question as to the best method of managing the con- solidated forces. N ‘Thomas A. Edison is firm in his ap- proval of prohibition. Possibly his one regret concerning the electric light is that it is of so much assistance to the night clubs. ] SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Human Experience. A lot of chaps with wealth today Can look back on a time When fortune seemed to hide away, ‘Though strength was in its prime. With feeling for your fellow men Your heart will surely throb If you sometimes remember when You didn't have a job. It's time to work with thought and skill T find the way to lead Those who would labor with a will To shun the hour of need. It may be helpful now and then To aid, not pause to sob As you perchance remember when You didn't have a job. In the Old, Old Days. “I remember the first time you ran for Congress.” “That was a long while ago,” com- mented Senator Sorghum. “And the game was a little easier. There was no prohibition question involved. In fact, you were expected to be a wet and prove it by treating the crowd.” Jud Tunkins says erime might not be so0 fascinating if fancy writers would let it alone and leave it to the lawyers to make it uninteresting. ‘With Peace Secure. For battleships we will not call When men at last agree. In museums we'll put 'em all Instead of on the sea. Favorite Character. “Who is your favorite character in history?” “Tom Thumb,” answered Miss Cay- enne. “I don't know his biography, but 1 enjoy the kind of golf he invented.” “But few of us” sald Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “could hope to en- joy celestial bliss if we had to prove beyond a doubt that we deserve it.” Using Discretion. He may be happy, even though A-speculating he may go, If he’ll use coin that is his own And let the other chap's alone. “I still likes de old mule,” said Uncle £bzn, “who dida’ have no trouble findix’ parkin’ space an' holdin’ it @s long as he felt lka" 4 " ; would fail of their desired | THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. ‘There are so many charming new children’s books on the market this sea- son that we would not know where to begin, 5o scarcely are able to answer the letters of correspondents who have | asked for advice on the subject. Recently we purchased, for two small friends, “The Cat That Went to Heav- en” and “Little Pig Robinson,” but these are only two of a gal 3 row's “'I'he Painted Pig” can be omitted from no list. But our advice would still be to give the old favorites, and of these we select “Alice in Wonderland,” Grimms’ “Fairy Tales,” Andersen's “Fairy Tales,” “Rob- | inson’ Crusoe,” “The Swiss Family Rob- inson.” “Gulliver’s Travels.” “Treasure Island” and “Black Beauty An old-fashioned list, we will admit, but a mighty good one for all that, made up of stories that will never be surpassed, and which, in a sense, will never be equaled. Since theie are no hard and fast mezsurements in such matters, it is per- fectly safe to say that such a took a ,“The Swiss Family Robinson” cannot | be duplicated—that is, in its precise | qualities, because there can be only one Robinson family! So much is 0 much. There might | be imitators of this favorite story, but they would not_be the one and only i 8wiss Family Robinson, which went | through such impossible yet plausible | adventures, and which never thought a tree or running toward them on all four legs. | o A ] | we know of two Washington young- ! sters right now who are getting “The Swiss Family Robinson” in nightly in- I'stallments with huge satisfaction_both { to themselves and their parents. There | lies one of the charms of this old book. | Grown-ups, as they are called, enjoy it | auite as much as the little ones. Per- cynically the rather overemphasis on Providence which is incorporated in it, but they enjoy none the less the same satisfaction which the children have when the Family finds everything right and tight in their snug little isle. The small readers do not have the sense of anti-climax which most of their elders feel at the latter pait of the story, when the family finally in- dulges in a romance, and part of it removes from the island at last. This | was tacked onto the original story, and like s0 many such amendments rather spoils the flavor. Some coples of “The Swiss Family Robinson” remedy this by omitting the romance of the elder daughter, or son, or however it is, we have forgotten. “The Swiss Family Rohinson” fs on than “Robinsen Crusoe,” because it deals with the familiar life of the home, although under unusual circumstances. The story of the capable Crusoe is to- day S0 familiar to the reading world that ordinarily we fail to stop to realize hew saddening a tale it is, after all. Surely nothing could be more “scary” to the average child than the thought of being left alone by himself, on an island or any place else. It is fortunate for them, therefore, &s readers, that ordinarily they do not think much upon what they read, or haye read to them, at least not in a brooding way. Most children, of what- ever age, are like the smaller youngsters who carefully but quickly turn over the which carries the illustration of the old Witch in the story of Hansel and Gretel. o De Foe's masterpiece, however, de- serves and always gets a place in every list of childre one should grow to manhood without having read it. In addition to being haps they recognize somewhat more | all points a better story for children | page in the book of the Brothers Grimm | perfect for boys, it is perfect for their elders, too. It is a story of which every man, woman and child in the world has heard, but an amazing number of per- sons have not read it, we believe. We beseech all such to get a copy of “Robinson Crusoe” in order to read one of the most interesting of elemental storfes. It is timeless. It occuples a | place which no other book filis, for it | tells a story which none other can with- |out being ‘an imitation. While “The Swiss Family Robinson” may be the | children’s favorite, they love “Robinson Crusoe,” tco, and no child’s shelf of {bnal; can be said to be complete with- out it. | “Alice in Wonderland” is another | neczssary child’s book, which, alas, | some children do not like! This is | unfortunate but true. Perhaps it is as | ynreasonable to expect every little one to like any given book as it is to ask |all adults to unite in universal praise f some one production, such as Dante's "Divine Comedy.” for instence. There are many scholarly, book-loving people who will confess freely that they can “see nothing to the ‘Divine Comedy.’" There are others, of no more learning | nor apprectation, who profess to be- lieve it one of the world's masterpieces, as it is commonly regarded. “Alice in Wonderland” and its twin, “Through the Looking Glass” belong |to that class of children’s books the | individual members of which are even winners, or as to an exhibition as a | Of dinner without finding it to hand on | more beloved of older persons than the youngsters. While this may be sald of | Al the books named here in our select | list, it 1s true of *“Alice in Wonderland” |to 'an exceptional degree. No other | book, of any type, has been parodied | more, especially for the purpose of poli- | ties. " Its wisdom is of such a nature | that its divine foolery pleases both the adult and the infant mind. | ok oxox | The two volumes of fairy tales on our list also belong to the number of time- |less books. There have been hundreds of fairy tale collections put on the mar- | ket during the past quarter of a cen= | tury, some of them good, some indif- ferent, some poor, but it is safe to say that none has ousted the stories of the German_brothers or the Danish tale | teller. The fairy tales of this trio sum | up all the good that such tales possess. They have the droll something which makes even the most grisly reeital, such as that of “Big Claus and Little Claus,” by Hans Christian Andersen, a thing of delight to the smallest chil- dren. It is a wonder that these stories have escaped the onslaught of those misguided persons who somehow feel Yhat there is much harm in innocent folk tales. They have escaped, we be- | lieve, because the good they do so far outweighs the bad that no one has noticed the latter element, even if it xists, which we would be the last to dmit. The “Gulliver's Travels” is an old- time favorite with all readers. De- signed by a cynical man for adult read- ers, it was taken over bodily by the children for their own and thus taught | 2= world a lesson, if the world is will- |ing to learn it, that cynicism may re- |bound in curious directions. Dean | Swift would have been an amazed man if he could have known that count- | less_innocent children the world over would look upon his story as a fairy tale written expressly for their pleasure. Stevenson's “Treasure Island” re- | mains the classic tale of pirate adven- | ture, not too reslistic, not too romantic, but ‘one of those happy blends of both which come but once in a lifetime of writers and readers. One has but to compare this masterful work with any |of its imitators to see the difference. As for “Black Peauty,” it is very old- | fashioned, indeed, but we like it, and believe that almost every one should. The passing of “Mother Jones,” Mary Harris Jones, brings forth expressions of admiration for her personality, her loyalty to her ideals and the part she played in the early struggles of labor for better conditions of work and of living. As described by the Little Rock Arkansas Democrat, she was the “last of the ‘true militants’ for the rights of the laboring man.” “Death of ‘Mother Jones,’ venerable labor leader, agitator, and sometimes martyr, at the alleged age of a hun- dred years, removes from the human stage one of the unique figures of the gresem generation,” says the Salt Lake eseret News. hat an exceptional woman she WA exclaims the St. Louls Globe- Democrat, as it extols her “strength of character and force, and her sense of fairness and feminine chivalry, even in partisan warfare.” The Abilene Reporter calls her “this indomitable, scrappy little woman,” and the Scran- ton Times sees in her “the Joan of Arc " To the Hartford Dally Times she w: ‘Mother Machree’ of labor,” “unique personality,” while the Apple- ton Post-Crescent characterizes her as “labor's militant, indefatigable, resist- less leader.” “She believed firmly in the old Ameri- can conception of liberty, and she was never in the least afraid to fight for her conception,” according to the Geneva Daily Times. As the Burlington Gazette says: “With all her militancy, Mother Jones always was a good American. She frowned upon socialism and communism, her good sense alive to the fallacy of permitting these elements to intrude themselves into the field of American organized labor. Her heart impulses ever were right, and labor can well cherish her memory,” this paper con- cludes. o 5. “The sympathy of her warm Irish heart was always with the under dog and labor was so often the under dog that she was always its champion, though she was never one of the hot and heedless radicals who would burn down the barn to get rid of the rats,” says the Duluth Herald. “She might be styled the female Coxey, although she was even more pic- turesque than that champion of the poor, and had the faculty of attracting more attention to herself,” notes the Philadelphia Inquirer, which describes her as having been “threatened, jailed and deported from one State to another, but she proved to be as ubiquitous as a flea, and often quite as troublesome. She traveled from one end of the country to another, carrying her earthly possses- sions in a little black shawl. Asked once where her home was, she said, ‘Wherever there is a fight against oppression,’” concludes the Inquirer. ““Mother Jones never asked anything for herself, but it is a notable fact that, egitator and fiery denunciator of capital’s old practices that she was, she lived to win the respect and admiration of all who recognized her truth and sincerity, and the generosity which led her to spend her life in the service of those Wi needed her,” relates the Youngstown Daily Vindicator. “Whether or not she may have been too radical and violent on certain occa- sions, the fact remains that she had the respect of the whole country and the love of a considerable part of it at her death. Courage, candor, zeal, honesty and devotion prove themselves despite opposition,” asserts the Mem- phis Commercial Appeal. “She had been called ‘menace’ in the old days,” recalls the Albany Eve- ning News, “but she lived to know the admiration of those against whom she had battled.” R, . As to the results achieved by “Mother Jones,” the Minneapolis Star believes that “many abuses which might oth: wise have been hushed up were brought into the clear light of public scrutiny by tactics that were both fearless and Mother Jones Dies Honored By All Classes of Americans | spectacular; ‘Mother’ Jones was never one for compromise and she fought, al- most literally, ‘tooth and nail."” As the Rochester Times-Union points out, “her presence at labor meetings, her part in aggressive action and strikes, her spirit in continuing the fight to the last ditch—this was, perhaps, as great a gift as ever came from one person to labor, and certainly the greatest gift of any woman in this country or else- where. While much of the improvement in the condition today of the American workingman is due “the country’s improved economic coxdition and much more to a more liberal attitude on the part of employers,” according to the Ashland Daily Independent, “some of it at least is due to Mother Jones herself,” this paper avers. Noting that in her last years birth- day felicitations were exchanged be- tween John D. Rockefeller and Mother Jones, the latter of whom had been a bitter foe of the former in_her militant years, the San Prancisco Chronicle re- marks that “the reconciliation of these two ancient foes is symbolic of some- thing that has taken place in the rela- tions between capital and labor in America. It gives hope that in indus- trial adjustment the Nation's first hun- dred years were the hardest,” concludes the Chronicle. The more favored lot of labor today has come about because “the groundwork was laid by firebrands like ‘Mother Jones,’ stirred to passion- ate protest by the miserable condition of the ‘submerged tenth’ in an America which has gone never to return,” claims the Houston Chronicle, calling Mother Jones “a valiant soldier. “Daughter of an Irish rebel, widowed and bereft of four children by yellow fever, her dressmaking ribbons and silks burned in the Chicago fire, she dedi- cated herself to improving working conditions when she saw hungry, job- less men tramping the freezing lake front after the fire. To the end of her 100 years she kept up that fight,” is the tribute of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Hers was “a personality that developed into an institution,” remarks the Ann Arbor Daily News, and the Providence Bulletin, impressed by the “aboundini amazing vitality” of this woman, says of it: “It was a ploneer vitality, un- weakened by the debilitating influences of an advanced civilization.” As the Asheville Times sums up her nature and her achievements, “Any one who believes anything, with manifest in- tensity and devotion, commands atten- tion. The fiery little “Mother Jones’ must be given credit for some hasten- ing of the process by which the Ameri- can people have evolved a new con- ception of the place of labor in the scheme of life.” —————. Painters Are Available For Necessary Repairs To the Editor of The Star: Would you please give a little space in your paper to let the people of Wash- ington know of the unemployment among painters and paperhangers in ‘Washington, D. C.? As new painting and paperhanging is sanitary and also preserves and beau= tifles, I believe the le should wake up at this time and fix up their property. Not only residential property nes looking after, but there are many schools, churches and restaurants which are sadly in need of going over with paint. To fix these places at this time would give a gerat deal of work to the un- employed in these lines. Cl REWS, 'HARLES F. ANDI President of Master Painters and Decorators' Association of Wash- c———— No Good for Eggnog. From the Detrott News. We don't know much about dinosaur ann, except that the housewife of the e probably didn't need 13 of them to h& an angel caka, iWages Are Measured In Needs of Workers From the Wall Street Journal. Whether the United States can and should maintain its general wage scale through the current depression, or should seek an immediate liquidation of labor as a means toward quick restora- ition of prosperity, is & question which has so far been considered more in private than in open forum. High wages have become almost & fixéd prin- ciple in latter-day American theory, so much so that President Hoover in his message to Congress remarked: “The index of union wage scales shows them to be today fully up to the level of any of the previous three years. In conssquence the buying power of the country has been much larger than would otherwise have been the case. Expressing about the same idea more aggressively, Miss Perkins, State indus- trial commissioner of New York, says: “The industries that cut wages de- feat their own ends. The purchasing power must be kept up whers the wage- earning class will find it easy to buy the things the manufacturer wants to sell.” ‘These are generalizations, good as far as they go, but insufficient to tell the ‘Wages have been reduced in some lines of employment; the fact that the union wage index shows no diminution indicates that the redue- tions have affected principally or ex- clusively labor not afliated with the recognized unions. On the other hand, wage scales have been steadily main- tained in some conspicuously un- unionized industries, such as steel. In at least some cases lower scales have been accepted by employes as the only means of maintaining produciion and the chance to work. Goods must be sold if men are to continue making them and selling now is primarily a matter of price, This is particularly true of manufacturing for export It is not accurate, therefore, to say sweep- ingly that industries which cut wages, in a time of reduced living cost and generally falling prices, - defeat their own ends. If a wage reduction within the limits of fair dealing makes work for 100 men where only 40 could be used at the previous scale, 8 good end 13 served and not defeated Nor do wage reductions honestly made under such circumstances do anything to im- pair the modern American idea that high wages and general prosperity go hand in hand. At bottom, is is the worker’s real wage, his annual income in terms of his material needs and de- sires, that measures his compensation. Whether wages should be reduced or maintained in time of depression must be determined with reference to the circumstances of the individual business and to the immediate ends in view, Work Solulionggg In Judicious Economy From the Charleston (8. C.) Evening Post All over the country there is a de- mand for economy this year in the appropriations for Stats and city gov- ernment that is accompanied at the same time with a demand that govern- ments do something to aid in reducing unemployment. When the meaning of the average man with respect to the two things is interpreted, it is apparent that they are hopelessly in conflict. It is’ Just another case of the public want~ ing to have its cake and eat it, too. The chief way any government spends its money is on jobs. Of the actual appropriation of any city or State, by far the larger part goes to pay salaries and wages. Obviously, the direct way to economy is by the reduction of ap- propriations, which necessitates the re- duction .of salaries or the elimination of jobs. Presumably, the peopls a gov- ernment pays are employed in giving useful service which the public de- mands, as policemen, -tax - collectors, road builders, firemen, game wardens, administrato: water suppliers, engi- neers, teachers, sanitarians, forcsters and whatnot. Which of them is to be thrown out of employment? And when they have joined tre army of the un- employed, what appropriation is the city or State to make that will relieve their condition and give them jobs again? If the economy doctrine is to prevail, the other should be dropped. JLet gov- ernment cut out all jobs that it can get along without and leave the job- less it has created to join the general competition for employment. Some re- duction in taxes might thereby be ob- tained, but it is just possible that it would be accompanied by a decrease in general income that would make it as hard to pay the reduced taxes as to pay those now imposed. If government is to make a direct contribution to re- duce unemployment, however, the ery for economy must cease. There is no sense in saving money at one end and spending it at the other. The best course is probably for a State or city to take unusual care that its expenditures during the coming year are made only for those items that are necessary, as it should, of course, do in any year, and let the un- employment problem work itself out without public interference, choosing, however, the present as an advantageous time to institute any important and necessary construction projects that it may have been planning as a required part of its program of community de- velopment. Neither economy for econ- omy’'s sake nor extravagance for the sake of the jobless will solve the prob- lem satisfactorily. R Waste Oil Found Fatal To American Wildfowl From the Seattle Daily Times. ‘The United States Biological Survey has added another count to the case against ships that discharge their waste oil in coastal waters. We have heard much concerning the d e _done to bathing beaches and to beach property, but it appears that fuel ofl also threat- ens to exterminate mm{ species - of waterfowl. The Biological Survey has found that ducks, geese, divers, gulls and terns succumb to the blighting ef- fects of the oil. In describing their de- struction, the bureau says: The fine down that insulates their bodies against cold and water be- comes matted and water-soaked, the skin 1s ;‘xposed to the elements and the birds die from cold and hunger it not mercifully drowned. ~Without human aid, a bird once in the sticky, 3“"}’;’ oil is doomed to a lingering eat On a short stretch of beach in Mas- sachusetts a game warden found more than 1,000 dead or dying birds. In an- other section he counted more than 500. ‘The disastrous effects of oil lution are not confined to the United States. Four years ago a conference of 13 na- tions was held in Washington, D. C,, to devise ways and means to prohibit the discharge of oil or oily mixtures in coastal waters. Several powers indicat- ed their approval of regulations pro- hibiting the practice, but others were unwilling to accept them without ma- terial changes. However, the discharge of olly mixtures is prohibited in the wa- ters of the United States, and the War Department is charged with the en- forcement of the law. In practice, it is found that convictions har obtain. Perhaps additional legislation ‘will be necessary requiring the installa- tion of oil separators for the removal of oil from ballast or bilge water, e for complaint_has t Sound, and efforts have stop the practice. The be solved before the lem must P But Can We Be Sure? Prom the South Bend Tribune. If the narrowness of the political margin in Congress doesn't extend to congressional minds the Nation may grin and bear ff — e Detective’s Solution of Puzzle. From the Akron Beacon Journal. A detective is a man who is puzzled :g.s murder and consoles himself with thought that the guy probably tle bumpling off, Jarge d to | N ANSWERS \TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC Stop & minute and think about this\ fact. You can ask our Information Bu- reau any question of fact and get the | answer back in a personal letter. It is a great educational idea introduced into the lives of the most intelligent people in the world—American newspaper readers. It is a part of that best pur- pose of a newspaper—service. There I8 no charge except 2 cents in coin or| stamps for return postage. Get the habit of asking questions. Address your letter to The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. Q. Who will attend the conference looking_to the regulation of rules for air traffic?-—N. N. B. A. The National Conference on Uni- | foxm Aeronautic Regulatory Laws will be held in Washington under the aus- pices of the Aeronautics Branch of the | Department of Commerce, December 16 and 17. The Governors of the 48 States, the Territorfes and the Com- | missioners.,of the District of Columbia have been invited to send two delegates each to the conference, The aircraft industry will be represented by dele- | gates designated by the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce. Representa- tives also will be appointed by the | Chamber of Commerce of the United States and the National Aeronautic As- sociation. The subjects to be discussed will include uniform basi¢_regulatory | State air law, adoption of Faderal air- | | traffic rules by the States for purposes | of local enforcement, methods\of local | enforcement, State enabling acts for | airport acquisition and control and im- portance of uniform eirport field rules. | Q. How much money is invested abroad by American corporations aad business men?-—S. M. \ A. Direct foreign investments at the y 78,000,000, More than 25 per cent. or $1,960,320,000, was invested | in Canada; 47,895,000 in South | America, $1, ,000 in Europe and | $1,053,751,000 in Cuba and the West | Indles. Smaller totals are reported from Mexico and Central America, $917,093,000; Asia, $394,540,000; Aus- tralla and New Zealand, $149,154,000, | jand Africa, $102,229,000. Q. What is an Irish dividend?—W. M. A. It is a stock assessment. Q. What mathematical “problem is called “Pons Asinorum"?—W. L, A. It is the fifth proposition, Book I of Euclid, the first difficult theorem, which dunces rarely get over the first time without stumbling. Q A. Compound, context, footfall and amen are spondaic—equally accented on each of the two syllables. Give examples of spondaic words. S. Q. What is meant by modus viven- di?—C. T. M. A. It is a mutual arrangement where- | by persons not at the time on friendly terms can be induced to live together in harmony. The term may be applied to | individuals, to socleties or to peoples. Q. What did the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” typify?—C. D. A. They weré Conquest, Slaughter, Famine and Death, who appeared in Revelation on white! red, black and pale horses respectively. They typify the evils of war. Q. What Is the highest price which L TELEGRAFO, Guayaquil—On its way to Lima to compete with the local foot ball (soccer) team, the Fortuna Club of Ha- vana, Cuba, spent a day in Guayaquil, coming from the scene of a previous encounter in Costa Ric: The players were the guests of a splen- did and colorful reunion of foot ball enthusiasts in the stadium, where con- tests were arranged between several of the leading teams of the city. Both the contestants and the general public applauded and greeted the visi- tors heartily, saluting them with the battlecry of their supporters, which had been learned by the local teams taking part in the exhibition, for this occasion. We take the liberty of re- roducing this “aullido” (yell) for the Eenem of such of our readers as may also wish to learn it: Zum-bala, zamba, Zum-bala, zamba, Cha-cara, chiqui, Hurah! Huras! Fortuna! Fortuna! Vah! Vah!! Vah!ll Also a briefer shout of encourage- ment: Arolla—FOR! Quierede—TU!! Miedo de—NA!! IFORTUNA! \ ‘The Fortuna team is a formidablé one, and has defeated on its tours many of the best South American teams. It has many friends and partisans in this city, and the coming contests in De- cember will be spectacles well worth witnessing. ' Fortuna! * o % Brazilians Unanimous On Conservation of Food. A Nolte, Rio de Janeiro.—There is one subject at least upon which the warring elements of the republic are unanimous, and that is the necessity for the conservation of all varieties of foodstuffs, particularly such as have been imported. ‘The President of the United States of Brazil has just issued a decree urging all loyal citizens of the republic to ex- ercise caution and abstinence in the conservation of such alimentary ma- terials throughout all national territory and also to hold unconsumed supplies subject to the requisition of the compe- tent authorities. These instructions are nslgned by Don Washington Luis P. de uza. An edict to the same effect has been issued by Gen. Joao Nepomuceno Costa, commandant of the military junta, that all necessities of life may used sparingly and subject to the emergencies of the provisional government, these announcements it appears that non-belligerents in the political disputes may fare even worse than those exposed to the hazards of the elméu s. The authorities of the in- dividual states have aiso issued mani- festoes of the same purport for the benefit of the regimes which seem re- spectively to be predominant in their various jurisdictions. oK ok K No Economic Reason For Business Stagnation. Honolulu Star-Bulletin—There is really no good economic reason for any sull'mfion of business here in Hawaii el Construction is active. ™~ Pay rolls are healthy. Yet, despito every indication for pros- perf possible to create posi to the people generally * * * used ‘to suffer back in the era \ottlbfl'l were produced about 20 per by ;conomlc conditions and 80 permlt by ear. ‘The establishment of the federal re- serve bank system put an end to perfodical economic “panic,” but :fi can stop :Peonlo from ylelding to fe "’Eo"x‘_" . of people do e 0 yield, #0 long will ive penngl:r.dl o ) :fil}‘“ of l?!‘wtly * ok % oK T unnee | sheet is folded | Jeaves, ete. wl tine she did not wish to be while traveling. prosel it was intrusted instead of lomrdlng"n to Mme. McPherson wore it for a while and then hypothecated it, subsequently departing, according to to Czechoslovakia, Whet J. HASKIN, has been paia for a seat for grand opera®—J, P. A. A performance of “La Juive” was given in the Metropolitan Opera House, Naw York City, in 1921, and a person pridl $250 for one seat. Q_>Wh.'. European city, other than Rome, was built upon seven hills?— M A D A. Copstantinople, now known as Istanbuly is said to be enthroned, like Rome, upyn seven hilis Q. In what proportion of motor ve- hicle accideris are pedestrians involved? B. L A. Last year 54 per cent of the trafic deaths in this éountry involved a pedes- trian, Q. How wide is' the Amazon the interlor of Braxil>—C. W. A. It is between 1 and 2 miles wide where it enters Brazil and gradually in- creases in breadth to 50 miles at its main mouth. Where ¥ enters the se: the distance across the water from head- land to headland is fully 150 miles. Q. Please give in inches the following book sizes: 32mo, 12 mo, 8 vo, elephant folio—E. C: C. A. Books are defined respectively as follo, quarto, octavo, duodecimo, sexto- decimo, octodecimo, vigesimo-quarto, tri- gesimo-secundo, ete. These terms are founded upon the number of times a For example, a folio sheet forms two leaves, a quarto four ‘The dimensions are as fol- 2mo, 31a by 43; 12mo, 5 by The sizes of octavo books differ according to the paper: for example, cap octave is 4'4 by 7 inches; demy, 514 by 8. etc.; roval ‘8vo, 615 by 10: 4 to, 9'; by 12; elephant follo, 23 by 28. Q. What is the largest and most pensive diamond in the world?—D. A. The largest and In most respects River in R. lows: 7 ex- A .l\m, most remarkable diamond ever found he Cullingn. diamond. It weighed 004%, cars®, or 1.37 pounds, and mp}XnM 4 fuches by 2.5 inches by 125 inchey. is Q. It is sald that every great race horse ti\it has lived in the last cen- tury and\a half is related to three Engriish vghurrdm Can you give me the namas of those English horses?— A M W A, Matchem, foaled in 1748; Herod, in 1758, and Ehpse, in 17 Q. When was first building and loan association formed in this coun- try?—0. 8., ’AA It was formed on January 3, 1831, at Frankford, Pa., by\three citizens, and called the Oxford Phovident Building and Loan Association. There are now over 12,000 such assoclations in the United States, and 8,000,000 homes have been financed within the 100 years since the first one was forwted. Q. Who were the men wHp came to nL!(nsscuuncry with Lafayettéd—M. G. A. The following names appear in the blography of Lafayette by\\nnd Whitlock. They are the names of fmen whom Lafayette arranged to bring wth him to fight in the mvohmon% Wak: Baron de Kalb, Delesser, De Valfort, De Fayols, De Tranval, Dubois Martin, De Gimat, De Vrigny, De Bedaulx, Capitaine, De la Colombe and Cardon. Q. What became of Ambrose Bierce? —J. 8, o A. He disappeared in 1913 when he entered Mexico. His fate is not known. Hi_ghlights on the Wide World Excerpts From Newspapers of Other Lands Simon Bolivar before its door. In this house the great liberator was born, but in 1826 it was deeded. by the Bolivar family to one of their favorite slaves. The edifice and the ground surrounding it have remained in the hands of de- scendants of the Bolivar sfaves ever since that date, which associates the name with the property for riod of 207 years in all. Now the landmark is owned by a “mestizo” (half-bred Span- ish and Indian), whose name is Lino Francisco Bolivar: he is always eager to show visitors the treasures of the nnxl:nt homestead. P » you progress from reom to room you will see many different types of firearms in use more tham a century ago. These weapons are of all sorts of patterns, and some appear mixh more formidable for the man employing them than for the enemy. There are ly a hundred different kinds of p: and a hundred variéties of muskets. In the yards and gardens surrounding the house there are scores of cannon, .of varied lengths and bores. The was used as. an arsenal during the Venezuelan War of Independence and in 1821, during the approach of the Span- iards before the battle of Carabobo, the gnwder magazine in the rear of the uilding was exploded by Capt. Juan Ricaurte. He lost his own life to pre- vent the munitions of war stored there- in falling into the hands of the foe. e U. 8. Motor Cars Never Discarded in Colombia. Diario Del Comercio, Barranquilla.— Regardless of how frequently new cars must be purchased in the United States these vehicles never seem to reach the degrees of disinf tion when they are unserviceable in Colombia. Many visi- tors to Barranquilla, when the: hold the wrecks of vehicles that navigate our streets, or parked along our sidewalks, cannot conceal their astonishment These decrepit contrivances pass from hand to hand until they have lost all vestige of color and any coherence of mechanism. There are cars operat upon our avenues that Fl’obmbly possess scarcely six units of their original fabri- cation. If no one ever saw a dead burro it is equally true that no one ever be- held a_discarded motor car—certainly not in Barranquilla, if not in the other cities of Colombia. Some of these vehicles it is lm?oulhle to classify as regards their manufacture, yet the proprietors obtain licenses to use them regardless of this fact. - One Fernando Montes was recently before the court because his license called for the operation of a Hudson, while to all appearances he was driving a Chevrolet. He protested that his ap- plication was made in all sincerity and that he thought he had a Hudson. Inspectors for the traffic d ent were unable to determine just what mark (manufacture) the car was origi- nally, so much of its construction had been changed, In our opinion, these mechanical vagabonds constitute a constant danger zens and to strangers, who judge us largely by the appearance of our th oughfares, All such cars should removed from public sight as promptl; and with them some of 'Im city busses before we incur a terrible catastrophe. * k% ¥ Mrs. McPherson Sues To Recover Coat Left in Paris. 3 e returning from a tour left a valuable fur coat with incumbe: 1yte to whom ii¥ The lice records, or not the will recover her coat puuuor Or Stunt Her Growth. \ From the Terrs Haute Star. N pds a | sme e t British princess who - started ¢ at 82 should realize it may langevity, i