Evening Star Newspaper, December 24, 1930, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. WEDNESDAY. .December 24, 1930 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Ne 1 nnsyivania, Ave. o ¥ ot "140 Ease 32nd t. Engtand. i Rate by %fllfl‘ ‘Within the City. ar «; . .45¢ per month and Buiday Stz iays) 60c per month and Sunday’ Star (when days) 65¢ per month The Sunday Sti ....5¢ per copy Gollection made ¢ end of each month Orders may be sent in by mail or ‘elephone MAtional 5000, Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. {ly snd Sunday.....1sr. $10.00: 1 mo., 85¢ lly jonly 1y, $6.00: 1 mo.. 50c unday only . ¥r. $4.00. 1 mo., 40c All Other States and Canada. Dafly and Sunday. 12.00; 1 mq Daily only Bunday only " jper Company $1.00 Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Fress is exclusively entitled to’ the use for republication of all iews ¢ atches credited (o 1t oF not otherwise cred- | manian and Central European history. ted in this paper and also rhe local news published herein. All rights of publication of sveclal dispatches herein are also teserved. | = Republicanism. wenator Norris of Nebraska is ob- secting beeause his Republicanism is! ealled into question. Yet Mr. Norris, @uring his recent campaign for elec- tion to the Senate against his Demo- cratic opponent, flaunted in the m:'(‘nl his defiance of party. Party loyalty, | according to the Senator from Nebraska, | is not to be desired. The man in pub- | lic life must be at liberty to vote with whatever party he sees fit. Mr. Norris obviously was defending during his campaign his abandonment of the Re- publican national ticket in 1928 and his frequent votes against measures sup- ported by his Republican colleagues in the Senate. His Democratic opponent, Mr. Hitcheock, was contending for party loyalty and regularity and declaring that a breakdown in the two-party sys- tem in this country would be a misfor- tune. But now Mr. Norris asserts boldly and with some rancor that his Republi- canism is the best brand. In his latest statement in the row that has developed over the senatorial campaign in Ne- braska, Mr. Norris declares that he was fighting for the Republican party when Mr. Hoover himself was a resident and voter of Great Britain. Pretty nearly ever since Mr. Hoover returned to this country, however, Mr. Norris has been fighting against what, to the general public, is known as the Republican party. The fact of the matter is that Mr. Norris, in 1928, turned his back on the Republican party and voted Democratic. He sought in every way he could to make his State follow him. But he could not. Nebraska voted for Mr. Hoover by 147,000 over Alfred E. Smith, Mr. Norris Democratic candidate. When Mr. Norris talks about the Re- publicans of Nebraska following him, he might stop to consider their action in that election. It has been quite ob- vious, too, that Mr. Norris received & great mass of Democratic votes in the recent election. These Democrats did not vote for Mr. Norris because he was & Republican. They voted for him be- cause they believed that he was a bet- ter Democrat than a Republican. Mr. Will Wood, chairman of the Re- publican Congressional Committee, has pinned a label on Mr. Norris. Assert- ing that the Senator from Nebraska is neither a Republican nor a Democrat, Mr. Wood has dubbed him a “consum- mate demagogue.” Mr. Norris has not yet claimed that Mr. Wood is no Republi- can, although he insists that Mr. Wood is lending himself to a plot of con- spirators “in their disreputable methods of controlling the party.” The time appears to be coming, however, when Mr. Norris, who deseréed his party in 1928 and who urged Democrats to vote for him in 1930, by declaring that party lines should not exist, will proclaim that he himself is the Republican party. Mr. Norris is correct when he asserts that the opposition to his re-election by Republicans, including Robert H. Lucas, executive director of the Repub- lican party, should have been in the open and not in secret. It should have been. The present attack on his Re- publicanism, as announced by Mr. Wood, is quite open. Mr. Norris deserted his party. He resents now the fact that Republicans are criticizing him for that desertion. ——r—————— — Russlan leaders are said to be becom- ing quarrelsome. If the quarrel becomes serious, there is no way of guessing what man will be accused as a con- spirator and called up before the micro- phone to confess. A world that reads with repugnance of the gallows, the guillotine and the electric chair will welcome the microphone as the most humane implement of public execution yet devised. ————ree———— No situation in public affairs is com- plete without & rumor of resignation even voluntary or by request. the holiday season does not interrupt the custom. N The Bratianu Dynasty. ‘With the passing of Vintila Bratianu, & Rumanian dynasty comes to an end. The late prime minister and his for- bears were ruling powers at, Bucharest | for nearly eighty years. The collateral brand of the Hohenzollerns, who oc- cupled the throne, took orders from the Bratianus through two generations. ‘The member of the family who has Just died was destined to be the last of the clan to wield authority., His doom was sealed three years ago when the industrial and financial interests of which the Bratianus were the lead- ers found themselves hard pressed by the rising Peasant party. In 1928, the Peasants bolted the Rumanian Parliament and by a serles of bold strokes compelled the regency, which was in office following the de- mise of King Perdinand, to demand Vintila Bratjanu’s resignation from the premiership in favor of Julius Maniu. ‘The deposed statesman resolutely op- posed the return of King Carol, and when that giddy monarch stole back to the throne through a coup d'etat this year, Bratianu found his influence in Rumanian politics in total eclipse, Notwithstanding his latter-day tribu- lations, the Jate prime minister is to be given a state funeral in Bucharest on Saturday. It will be a deserved tribute to a family which has been ideatified $8.00: 1 5 15r. $5.00i 1mo. 80c | Even | three score years and ten. The father, | Jon Bratianu, led the revolution of 1848, was instrumental in the union of the prineipalities of Moldavia and Wallachia In 1859, under Prince Cuza; was a leader in his deposition and in 1866 brought Prince Carol of Hohenzollern Sigmarin- gen to Rumania to found the present royal line. Jon Bratianu II, the elder son, followed his father to power and ruled Rumania for years with a high hand. Vintila Bratianu, the last of the family | to be gathered to his ancestors, collabo- rated with his brother Jon in staging | the exile of the present King Carol to | France. In 1927, Vintila inherited the | premiership from his deceased brother, | but, although he enjoyed the powerful | support of the Dowager Queen Marie |and her influential friend Prince Barbu | Stirbey, the growing strength of the | Peasant party movement, plus the in- | trigues of the Carolists, proved irresist- {ible. Nurtured in an atmesphere of family autocracy, Vintila Bratianu's last two years were lived as a com- plete political outsider Yet the name of Bratianu is carved indelibly in Ru- e — The Power Fight Begins. ‘The shake-up in the Federal Power Commission’s personnel represented in he requested resignations of William V. King, chief accountant; Charles A. Russell, solicitor, and F. E. Bonner, executive secretary, should be interpret- ed as a natural desire on the part of | the newly appointed commissioners to start their difficult task with a clean slate, and the enforced separations from the service of the former employes | should be considered without prejudice to themselves or to their records. But because Mr. Russell and Mr. King have won for themsclves the reputed title of “enemies of the power trusts,” as against the reputed title of “friend of the power trusts” held by Mr. Bonner, the new commissioners have exposed themselves to Senate wrath and even to threats that their confirmations will be reconsidered. According to the theory behind the attack on the commissioners, it was a wa= step to let Mr. Bonnes g0, but a betrrral of the public trust not to retam Mr. Russell and Mr. King. Is this good reasoning? The old Power Commission won more promi- nence by the internal strife between the three employes concerned than by any acts of commission or omission in con- THE EVENING casual temporary work paying pittances. I This s the saddest aspect of thei Christmas season that has been pre- sented for a good many years in America. But it is by no means a hope- less situation. Those who are idle through no fault of their own are being given opportunities to earn something, perhaps only enough to keep going for a few weeks, pending other develop- ments, Organized charity is watching to ward off actual suffering. Govern- ment ag:ncies are developing operations on a large scale that will expand the field of occupation. The New Year will | probably see a material improvement in the situation. For Christmas itself there can b le chance of specific aid outside of the small bounties of the “season.” The | most solicitcus friend cannot bestow a ! gift of a salaried position upon a needy | man or woman by a mer: gesture of | benevclence. A cheering word of encouragement will not fill a child's | stocking with presents or spread ' family table with the fare of the Ci t- mas frast. It will not provide for the day after Christmas, or the weck fol- lowing. But it will help to preserve morale, to prevent despondency and| surrender. In these last fcw hours before the| dawn of the Yuletide remember the jobless and try to help them with at least & thought of cheer and comfort. —a—— A Man Who Made Millions Sing. A man died in New York the other night who, about forty years ago, set the American people to singing. This was Charles K. Harris, who early in the nineties of the past century wrote a song that swept the country. It was entitled “After the Ball,” which today would be classified as “sob stuff,” but which was in fact far better than most of the popular music of the last two decades. An interesting fact about this cong is that when Harris tried to sell it to stage performers they refused it because it had *“too much story.” Finally James A. Libby consented to sing it at a Chicago theater. It was an instant success. Orders came in so fast for coples that Harris had to bor- row monej to print them. Other songs followed, but none was ever quite so popular as “After the Ball,” though “Thou Art Ever in My Thoughts” had a great vogue, while the “Just Break the News to Mother” made the Nation weep. Harrls was a good business man, nection with regulation of power com- panies. If Mr. Bonner’s friendliness to the power trusts was enough to make his continued service with the commission inadvisable, the same rea- soning could, and obviously has been applied, in considering the inadvisability of continuing the services of Mr. Russe.l and Mr. King, the “enemies” of the power companies. The commission is a fegulatory and quasi-judicial body. It would be reprehensible for it to begin its functions with® personnel that is biased in either direction. And with- out attributing to any of the employes | concerned a bias that prevents honest public, service, the new commission is amply justified in wanting to begin its work with expert help of its own choice. As for the practical considerations involved in the attack on the new commissioners, the threat to “recon- sider” their nominations is rather absurd. They have been approved by the Senate and have taken their oaths of office. They are removable only on specific grounds and proved charges. The time limit of a number of legisla- tive days within which moves to recon- sider legislation may be made does not apply, of course, to legislation that has been enacted into law by the Presi- dent’s signature. Nor has it anything to do with appointments, when the appointees have entcred office. though only a mediocre musician. In fact, he was really not a musician at all. He picked out his tunes by ear on the piano with one finger and only played the black notes, having a friend tran- scribe and arrange his songs. Once he set up a shop and hung out a shingle as an instructor in banjo, though after- ward he admitted that he knew nothing about the instrument. Yet his ven- ture prospered. Out of his song suc- cesses he made a fortune. Over 3,000,- 000 copies of “After the Ball” are said to have been sold, and there is even yet a demand for this sentimental bal- lad, which the author was inspired to write by a lover's quarrel which he wit- nessed at a public dance in Chicago. “Tin Pan Alley” in New York, which has been described as the lowest depth of American musical art, ultimately ab- sorbed Harris, and his contributions to the song literature of this country thenceforth were negligible. It was something, however, to have written one song, which, however tawdry, made millions sing. Government workers who are seldom heard of complain that their toil is arduous and their tenure of position subject to vicissitude. They must admit that in these respects they share the lot of even so prominent an official as the director of a national campaign committee. ———— ‘The selection of subordinate personnel of the Power Commission is none of the Senate's business anyway. Such personncl does not have to be con- firmed by the Senate. Unless the Senate desires to extend its power of approval of presidential appointments to the examination and approval of every minor employe selected for a Government job, the vociferous critics of the new Power Commission may as well restrain themsclves. Otherwise they will spend their breath in vain. —————————— An 01d Friend Returns. ‘Washington welcomes the announce- ment of the appointment to the Sen- ate vacancy, recently caused by the death of Senator Greene, of Frank C. Partridge, who will cccupy the seat until a successor is elected. Senator Partridge !s returning to a scene of early activities in public life. He came to Washington in 1888 as the private secretary of Redfield Proctor, who was named Secretary of War by President Harrison. Two years after he was ap- pointed solicitor in the Department of State, and later was made special envoy to Venezuela, and afterward served as consul general at Tangier. During the several years of his active service in Washington Mr. Partridge made an ex- tensive acquaintance, and those friends of forty years ago and later who are still on the scene will be pleased to see; him once more an official Washing- tonian and to renew the friendship of that long-past time. It may be that he will stand for election to the seat to which he has been so worthily ap- pointed and that his senatorial servic will be extended, which will be grati- | fying to those who know him of old and | who highly appraise his choice by Gov. | 1 Weeks. o Bandits are contnt with small change. Some hold-ups net only $8 or $10. ‘The maxim so often urged, “Crime coes not pay,” is beginning to prove itself. . R King Carol found himself involved in one of the most compact as well as complex court situations in the world. The smaller the country the harder it is likely %o play the game of politics. o Christmas Cheer for the Jobless. It is difficult to wish a Merry Christ- mas to the unemployed man or woman this year. For Christmas will be far from a merry occasion for them and for their families, It would be indeed a most joyous occasion if they found work, permanent occupation and not mere provisional temporary employment, on the eve of the holiday. Few, how- i ever, of those who are jobless on account. of the business depression from which the country is now suff<ring are so fortunate. Christmas finds most of Another Tammany scandal proves sufficiently sensational to make it im- will entertain much hope of securing another Democratic National Conven- tion. o SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. A New Year. ‘When Christmas day arrives with cheer, ‘The year is nearly done, And gladly we are drawing near T 19311 Good resolutions we will make New knowledge we will gain, To sympathy we shall awake For poverty and pain. ‘The bygone sorrow we’ll forget. Mistakes of days gone by ‘We will dismiss with no regret As blessings true draw nigh. So as each mortal gladly sings To greet the year begun, The finest gift that Christmas brings Is 1931. Deliveries. “You have delivered many a splendid oration.” “I am proudly conscious of that fact,” answered Senator Sorghum. “But while I was busy delivering orations| for some mysterious reason my audi- tors were delivering votes somewhere else.” Jud Tunkins says it's dangerous to convict too many rijch men because jails may fall into lukurious habits from which it will be hard to recover. Increase of Volume. When Christmas brings along the toys.; The children make a lot of noise. As they grow older, they get prouder | And simply make the noises louder. Insect Sagacity. “Some naturalists say that insects are among the wisest creatures on| earth.” | “You've got to admit one thing,” answered the aviator. “They have their wings and motors under perfect con- trol. When an insect flies, he never flops.” “Youth should travel abroad,” sald Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown. “If a man finds a land that he likes better than his own, it is better for himself and for his country that he should dwell there.” Politics Here and Abroad. “your politics is hard to understand”’— So says the leader in a foreign land. Amerjcans will for a moment fret, Then say, “Well, yours for us is harder yet!” “Dar is all kinds o' diffunt gam- igood chees probable that the home town boosters | a2 mmarriage. STAR, WASHINGTON., D. C. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1930. l Government Five-Day i THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. ‘This is the last call for reading “A Christmas Carol” before Christmas. Charles Dickens' immortal master- piece, still the most beautiful lay Christmas story, should be read tonight or never for 1930. There are many readers who make it a practice to read this long short story, this short long story, this novelette, what- ever cne chooscs to call it, at least once a year, preferebly in December. They find that it brings back to their hearts and minds Anglo-Sa the season different from all othi year. This worls up in ever glory of Charles writ did in More t which this story ¢ is the peculiar No less pro- have achieved what he temp cspecially in his writing temperament. e None of the French authors. not one, even the greatest, could have written “A Christmas Carol.” If we cen imagine Emile Zela trying his hand at a typical Christmas tale, we must imagine something far differ- ent from what Dickens achieved. . Perhaps Alexandre Dumas, the elder, might have written with the nearest ap- proach to the gusto of Dickens. No doubt if the author of “The Three Musketeers” and “The Count of Monte Cristo” had determined to write a typ- ical Christmas (Noel) story, he would have done something slightly 1lil “A Christmas Carol.” But how different it would have heen! Perhaps the nearest we can come to describing that difference would be to say that it would be the diference be- tween an Englishman and a” French- man Another way difference between a sentimentalist and & romanticist. Dickens was sentimental, and if you don't like or are unable to swallow a bit of that with your mental fare, you will never care for “Bleak House” or “Dombey and Son,” or “Nicholas Nickleby,” or “Martin Chuz- zlewit.” The sentimentalism of Dickens goes deeper than mere words, but these have a great deal to do with it. Words are queer things; a writer may use them for clear-cut, cold realism, or he may use precisely the same ones and secure | effects which most readers will deem “mushy. Charles Dickens never let himself go that far, although he consciously strove for certain effects which today | place him open to the imputation of sentimentalism by those who somehow seem to think that sentiment is out of the question. Excépt in certain portions of certain of his novels, Dickens never lets his sentiment become sentimentalism, but | keeps it mostly within the bounds of | what may be called a beef-eating, hearty sentiment. * K k¥ In the best of his works Dickens se- cures certain desired effects by throw- ing himself so completely into his writ- ing that he literally forces the reader to_accept his mood. He is there in_his books, and if you do not care for Dickens, the man, you will never like Dickens, his books, the spirit of the | hearty | r times of the | would be to say the | Absent yourself, Dickens lover, from his books for several years and devote your reading moments to a perusal of the great French fiction classics. Come back then to Dickens and note how “wordy” he seems. Yet if you were a genuine Dickens “fan” his pro- lixity will not disgust you nor offend you, but merely striké you as poor artistry. In other words, except in rare in- | stances, he was no such master of words as were any of the French flc- tionists. Yet for all that he could | write, and write tremendously well. If any one doubts this, let him pick up “A Christmas Carol” and put it to the test. ke R This evening is one of the best in the year to read agein the epic of Old | Serooge. | What makes this story take on some- thing of the divine is that each one of | us at some time or other is Old Scrooge. Every man, and perhaps every wom- | an, has something of the Scrooge in |'his_character. Dickens realized this. He knew that | the temperament of his chief charac- ter, the hero, if you will, was the tem- perament of every one. At least in part, and at least for a time, every one becomes grasping, miserly. Perhaps it is the lingering traces of a trait which has come down through a long chain of inheritance. Not an inherited trait, perhaps, but it might just as well be, for environment has made it just as sure. If in no other way, this tralt takes form at Christmas time in a failure to enter into the spirit of the occasion. We, speak not here of those persons who, | through no fault of their own, are legit- | imately outside the spirit, at least tem- porarily. We speak only of the lack of enthu- slasm which comes to many a man and woman, especially after a certain age, when confronted with Christmastide, its lights, its decorations, its gifts. Let it be admitted that most of these things are secular, scarcely religious. Our Christmas inheritance is a strange conglomeration of Christian and heath- en, of divinity and foolishness, of spir- itual and commercial. According to the individual tempera- ment, first one side and then another of this curiously mixed-up festival will strike one as out of harmony with the remainder. The truth, perhaps, is that all of it is a part of it, and that we can escape rone of it without losing something of all of it. The sentiments of good cheer, kindli- {ness, generosity and tenderness, which | Christmas fosters, are brought out in | Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” The very fault of some of his novels, that verbos- | ity which sometimes offends, is here | helpful, in that it gives a sense of time | which otherwise would be missing. It is a complete adventure, in time | and space, in mind and heart, which we go through with Scrooge, and when he reforms we reform with him, if we need that reformation, which most of us do, at least in part. Over all is the peculiar gusto of the masterpiece, the work which no writer achieves more than once. Dickens wrote many Christmas stories, but only one | “Christmas Carol.” If you haven't read | it so far this year, there is no time like the present. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC Postmaster General Walter F. Brown has _courteously but resolutely declined to shoulder the burdens of the Repub- lican National Committee chairmanship. He told the President that the mas- tery of the mails, being the first public office he ever held, is much to the Ohioan’s liking and he thinks he'd like some more of it. Brown was Mr. Hecover’s choice for the job, which | Hubert Work held, Claudius Huston lost and Senator Fess temporarily occupies. The Postmaster General is understood to have represented to “the Chief” that | he can render the administration al- most as effective political service in the cabinet as in the Barr Building. Ever since Brown “sold” Hoover, not with- out considerable sales effort, the idea of invading the Ohio primaries in 1928, the Willis candidacy to the contrary notwithstanding, the Toledoan has ranked in the Californian’s estimation as something akin to a political miracle . Capture of the Ohio delegation is still regarded as the thing t as- sured Hoover's nomination at Kansas City beyond all peradventure. Thence- forward, Walter Hgown became the Allah of the Hoover cause. To organize victory for 1932 seemed, in light of the past, the job for which the wonder- worker of 1028 was cut out. But Walter, it appears, will have none of it. ¥k . Dwight Morrow evidently isn't the only absent-minded member of the United States Senate. “Long Sam” Shortridge of California deposes and claims he has just developed some dis- tinction in that line himself. It hap- pens that Senator Shortridge and his wife were b&n on the same day—Au- gust 3—but he forgot the date of their A week or two ago Jowa’s native son, who is now the junior solon from California, wrote Mrs. Shortridge to clear up the uncertainty. Senator Shortridge has received a Christmas card which evokes tender memories. | It is a faded photograph of a country school house in Napa County, Calif., vintage of 1879, where he was principal as a lanky youth of 18. The picture shows Shortridge in the midst of a couple of hundred youngsters squatting on the grass. In his quarters in the Senate Office Building he has given it a place of honor among politicians, big trees, fruit groves and other photo- graphic souvenirs which keep Shortridge from getting homesick for California. * % * F Here’s a tip for West Point cadets and Annapolis idshipmen in Washing- ton for the holidays: Call on the mem- bers of Congress who appointed you to your respective academies. Senators and Representatives say it frequently happens that a lad who was helped to realize his life ambition through their favor fails to trouble to keep in touch with them. A letter of thanks at the time—and then, often, all is forgotten. Our future generals and admirals may be doing a better stroke for themselves than they think by “cul- tivating” the statesman who facilitated their admission to a service school. He may be chairman of a congressional Military or Naval Committee by the time Cadet Jones or Midshipman Smith is looking for promotion. One case of enduring friendship is that of Mid- shipman Kirn, star 1930 Navy halfback, with Representative Schaefer of Wis- consin, Schaefer appointed Kirn to An- napolis, and the sailor lad has fre- quently visited at his benefactor's home in Washington. mas with the Schaefers. * % % Amelia Earhart, woman transatlantic fyer, evidently doesn’t reach for a cigarette instead of a sweet. Recently in Washington for a business meeting of the air transport company which she helps to administer, a luncheon was ven in honor of the avlatrix who locks ike a twin sister of Lindbergh. Every- body at table was smoking a cigarette except her. She's said to attribute her coolness at the controls to the fact that she isn't an addict to the almost uni- versal feminine habit of the era. * ok % % Senator and Mrs. David A. Reed of nnsylvania have just welcomed home their daughter, Mrs. Charles Denby, jr., who, with her young husband, has been visiting in Russia. Mr. Denby, who is a lawyer, went to Moscow on behalf of @ client. Mrs. Denby has a umtix:e in- ternaticnal background. After leaving blin',” said Uncle Eben, “but dar ain’ with Rumanie’s national fortunes fof grawiDg 8t chances for even the most ter when you done lost & Week's wages." a finishing echool in Connzeticut, she spent a year in Florence. Italy, and them still looking for employment. one of 'em dat makes you feel any bet~ then was graduated with honors from the speaks in France. He 1s here for Christ- | WILLIAM WILE. Italian and French with the fluency of English and now has acquired a bit of conversational Russian. LR As usual, about half the membership of Congress and their respective fami- lies are spending the holidays in Wash- ington. Roughly speaking, they're the folk whose constituencies lie beyond the Alleghenies or the Mississippl. Repre sentatives and Senators who come from points farther afield generally feel they cannot afford either the time or money to light their Christinas trees “back home.” So they celebrate in Washington—and, commonly, at work. A more or less generous Uncle Sam doesn't allow congressional mileage for holiday or other “side trips.” * ok % ok His critics—and their name is always legion—say that Senator Borah wants a special session because he chronically craves a forum. They'll tell you that th. silver-tongued Idahoan is like a fish out of water when Congress isn't in session, and that's why he is now clamoring for his natural element. A bit of jealousy finds expression when colleagues on Capitol 1 complain of “Big Bill's” passion for the limelight. Ordinarily he gets more of it than al- most the rest of the Senate put to- gether, although George Norris and Gerald Nye have Jately run him a close race. Borah has one route to the front page itively not open to any other man Washington except the Presi- dent himself—the Senator holds a daily press conference, to which the gallery correspondents flock. Borah likes them and they like Borah. That’s one of the secrets of his c:durmg fame. * % x Like father, like daughter. Mrs. Melvin Ericson, well remembered in Washington as the former Caroline Dawes, daughter of Gen. and Mrs, Charles G. Dawes, has just played ostess to a unique wedding party at her Chicago suburban home. " For 11 vears Lauzanne Gergov, Bulgarian by birth, has been employed as chauffeur in the Ericson family. The other day he took unto himself a bride, and Mrs. Ericson, with the Dawes flair for the unusual, insisted that the nuptials be performed in her home. The guests consisted of a gay medley of Chicago North Shore social registerites and their chauffeurs, butlers, cooks and house- maids. Following the marriage cere- mony according to Slav rites—the chauffeur’s bride was a newly arrived Croatian girl—there was a breakfast and reception in the palatial house which adorns the Ericson estate. There- upon Mr. and Mrs. Ericson turned over their home to the newly-weds for & honeymoon. Gergov is back at the wheel of the Ericson car, the proudest chauffeur in “Big Bill” Thompson's whole bailiwick. (Copyright, 1930 oo Against Wage Cuts. From the Kansas City Star. The policy of maintaining wage scales, announced by Alfred P. Sloan, president of General Motors, is a policy generally agreed to and very generally applied in the industries. Cutting wages 1s not one of the ways to bring about economic recovery. It works in the opposite direction. Neither is a time of depression a time to demand | higher wages. Organized labor, with few exceptions, has observed the wage maintenance policy along with industry, as urged by President Hoover early in the period of depression. It is important that the country as a whole should understand that Ameri- can prosperity is founded on the high wage scale. Only with high wages, re- sulting in a wide diffusion of wealth, can the standards of living in this country be maintained. These living standards do not reflect merely the comparatve comforts, luxuries and cul- tural conditions of the masses; they re~ flect also the purchasing value, which in turn denotes the sources of pros- perity. Demand must have the means to satisfy itself if supply is to have a market. . Name Justification Gone. From the Detroit News. A campaign is on in Philadelphia to select a more pleasing name for Hog Is- land. Not & war profiteer has been seen o0 the pisce in 10 years, Usar claim, Work Week Favored To the Editor of The Star: Permit the writer through the col- umns of your paper to say that the millions of wage earners throughout the country no doubt will accept in good faith the position taken by Sena- tor James E. Watson, Republican leader of the Senate, on the five-day week for all Federal employes as a step toward a practical solution of the present un- employment situation. The Senator is quoted in the press as saying the five- day week should begin in the Govern- ment service, since that is directly under the control of Congress. If Congress is sincere in its efforts in’ meeting the present unemployment. | situation with all its untold suffering | and misery and prevent a similar situ- | ation from year to year, then Cong: should_at least at the present sessi pass 8. 5100, introduced by Senat: Walsh of Massachusetis, putting i Federal employes on a five-day weok. | If such action is taken at the present session, then no doubt the President | would call into conference the captains of industry to meet with a committee representing the organized lebor move- ment of the country, as represented by the American Federation of Labor, in- cluding the Big Four railroad organi-| zations and a similar committee of economizts, for the purpose of devising ways and means to put into effect as far as practical a five-day work week in such industries where such a practice would be feasible, At the present time some of the larg- est industries of the country are run- mrfig successfully on a five-day week policy. Statistics given out from time to time by the American Federation of Labor bearing on the five-day week show that there are .several hundred thousand tradesmen working undecr an agreement which calls for a five-day week. Re- cently a number of_-local typographical ve voluntarily inaugurated a v week to take care of the un- employed in their ranks caused by the economic earthquake, While the present session of Congress will end on March 4, it will be up to the Democratic leaders in Congress backed up by the organized workers in the country to stand with Senators Watson and Walsh. Probably such a bill could be passed at the present short session. If not then, the Feceral em- ployes will have to wait until the next Congress meets. The working men and women who are pleading for an oppor- tunity to work don't want charity nor a dole, but they want and need and have o right o demand it one pleases or an opportunit; living. PP y to earn an honest If the present session of Congress will adopt the five-day week for all Federal employes, it would not only be in har- mony with Senator Wagner’s bill, but would be the only practical relief meas- ure that would give employment to that particular ‘class of workers known as the white-collar class, for today our high schod and colleges are turning out every year thousands of young men and women whose only opportunity to earn a livelihood is in the clerical geld, F. C. ROBERTS, Ex-President, Columbia ‘Typograph- ical Union, 101, Washington, D. C. ot Judge Clark Defendt;d On Record of Rulings To the Editor of The Star: Mr. Mark Sullivan at the conclusion of his special article in The Evening Star writes, “There is speculation abeut the personality of the youthful judge and as to whether his ultimate fame will be confined to the outburst of discussion arising over this one opinion.” One cannot well understand what the “personality” of Judge Clark has to do with his recent decision, that the eighteenth amendment to the Con- stitution of the United States is un- conmtuucmk i to whether he will go a long distance or whether his ultimate fame will be confined to this * * * one opinion,” I submit that at least in New Jersey his fame as a judge will nof be confined to “this one opinion,” for out of 33 judgments other than this last one he handed down and upon which ;gpeonfls t;’a a higher court were taken lem were confirme hx%her court. . i am of the opinion that Federal Judge Clark as a judge “will go a lon distance” whether his latest judicia) judgment is confirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States or not. | ®S Those who believe the Supreme of the United States l’mapdccidz‘d:m:fi ready as to the constitutionality of the eighteenth amendment might recall that that court has in the past reversed its own decision more than once. ‘W. E. RYAN., “Military Functions” Fund Good Insurance From the Army and Navy Register. Admirable in all respects is the re- Joinder made by the Washington, D. C., Star to the designation, employed by President Hoover, of “military func- tions” to that part of the annual bud- get just submitted to Congress. The amount embraced in this none too ac- curate title—$1,616,387,115—is described as “a lot of money,” and it is an equal- ly truthful statement that it was not so many years ago when there was an ex- clamation that the total congressional appropriations for tbe support of the Government in one year was a round billion dollars, which led the then Speaker Reed of Maine to retort that the country had developed by that time into “a billion-dollar country.” The local paper prefers that that part of the estimate which contemplates main- tenance of the military-naval establish- ment shall be known as “national life insurance” instead of provision for ‘military functions,” just as the 1931-32 estimate for relief of veterans (Increased by $110,000,000 over this year’s figures) could, and better, be designated, in the interest of accuracy and as a confession of defect and realization of disaster, as an item attributable to the “cost of un- preparedness in past wars.” The Eve- ning Star adds: “At any rate, the lion’s share of the compensation we so gen- erously and so properly bestow on ex- service men is a tribute we pay not only to them, but to America’s incurable habit of remaining chronically unready for unexpected international emer- gency.” It is a splendid thought, founded on justice, comprehension and sagacity that the appropriation made for the maintenance of an armed defensive force should be constantly and closely assoclated with the suggestion of its protective and insurable pu . The item which now bears officially the title “military functions” should be rescued from the liability of coming under the suspicion and hatred of the pacifists who regard the cost of national de- fense as a wanton extravagance. It should be equally successfully separated from the assaults of the economic purists who may seize upon the item as equivalent to such frivolities as the pur- chase of cosmetics, indulgence in the movies and consumption of cigarettes. ‘The country is entitled to have its pro- tection, and the premium which covers the cost of this insurance is a profitable investment inst defeat, destruction and demoralization of government— penalties and sacrifices that are not measured in terms of budget estimates and congressional appropriations. ———— Some Will Disagree With This. Prom the South Bend Tribune. Congress is supposed to be in ordinary session, but the session has had ex- traordinary aspects in the short time that it has been under way. Better: Where Will the Car Go? From’ the Columbus Ohio State Journal. all @ t | Muscle Shoals Federal water-power plant BY FREDERIC ‘Take advantage of this free service. If you are one of the thousands who have patronized the bureau, write us again. If you have never used the serv- ice, begin now. It is maintained for your benefit. Be sure to send your name and.address with your question, and inclose 2 cents in coin or stamps for return postage. Address The Eve- ning Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. Q. How long s the ball ac play during a foot ball game?— A. The Scientific American says that it amounts to the amazin; short period of about 12 minutes. 4!3 seconds. Q. se fog?—C. 8. y studying fog off the Gra Banks it was determined that a of very dens> fog 100 long by 6 feet high by 3 fect wide contains about one-seventh of a gla water. This is: divided into ak 60,000,000,000 droplets. in Paris?—E. B. J. A. It was formerly known as Gre House. The address is No. 2 Aven d'lena. Q. How much does newspaper ad- the average family?—C. D. A. Experts have estimated that the total expenditure for newspaper adver- tising in recent years averages less than 10 cents per family per day. Q. How many people live in Oxford, England, and how many colleges com= prise Oxford University?—D. R. A. The population of Oxford 15 about 57,000. There are now 22 colleges, all of which are separate corporations in Oxford University. Their names are as follows: University, Balliol, Merton, Exeter, Oriel, Quecens, New College, Lincoln, All Souls, Magdalen, Brasenose, Corpus Christi, Christ Church, Trinity, St. John's, Jesus, Wadham, Pembroke, Worcester, Mansfield, Hertford and Keble. Q. Please describe the fandango.— A . M. A. 'The fandango is danced by a man and a woman. The time of the dance is 6-8, but the figures are very lively and the music is supplied by castanets in the hands of the performers, and by a song which is accompanied on the guitar, Sometimes the music is stopped, whereupon the dancers also stop and remain rigid until it is resumed. When one couple is tired, another immediately takes its place and the music and the dance go on as before, with no inter- ruption. Q. What was the original name of New Haven, Conn.?—R. O. N. A. In its earliest days New Haven was called Quinnipiac by the Indians and it was also called Roodenberg by some of the early Colonists. Q. When did Grant become com- mander in chief of the Union forces?— S. . D. A. Grant was made commander in chief of the Union Army on March 10, 1864. Q. Is “none the less” hyphenated, written as one word, or as three words?—E. M. A. It is written as three words. Q. How did the coat of arms orig- inate?>—H. L. C. A. A coat of arms is a relic of me- dieval times of the armorial insignia, which was embroidered upon the cloth worn over the armor to render a knight Th> ball is in mo- | tion in each piay on an average of about How much water is there in a | Q. Vahere is the American Embassy || vertising add to the cost of living of | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 1. HASKIN. conspicucus in battle. Coats of arms were later systematized, and the insignia commemorated the adventures and the achievements of the founders of the families who bore them. No one within the United Kingdom is entitled to bear arms without an hereditary claim by descent or & grant from & competent authority. Q. How many ships have been built |at Hog Island?-—W. C. A. There have been 122 ships built . |at Hog Island, with a gross tonnage of {651,968 tons. Does teaching offer much oppor- tunity as a profession?—D. 8. A. The profession of teaching offers !l rtunity. The in the instrue- children in the in the primary grades or , which is growing ce and ak ajority of the Nation's h school, the for prom on of the country lies in school ary school pe of the er taught and in the differ- ychological approach to the | adolescent group. llege graduates are universally pieferred for secc™dary |school teaching. Teach | schools offers varfous opportunities important service. Schools and clasows |for the deaf, the blind, the crippled, the |retarced, the mentally’ def quire teachers of excepti specialized training. Q. What is the smallest city included in the list of 200 leading cities of the United States by the 1930 census?— 5. D. A. Muncie, Ind., with a population of 146,517, ranks 200th, according to the [ latest ' compiiation of 1930 census Te- | ports. Q. When was the Tower of London begun?—H. 8. A. The oldest part of the tower was erected about 1078. Q. When was salvarsan invented or discovered?—S8. D. F. A. Salvarsan was introduced to the public in 1910. Q. Was the late Samuel Rea of the Pennsylvania_a railroad man all his life?—N. V. B, 5 A. Mr. Rea entered the service of the Pennsylvania in 1871, when he was 16 years of age, as a chainman and rod- man and was identified with railroads in one capacity or another throughout his life. Q. When were samplers first made?— 3 children never ! st soclal 'A. The earliest sampler in existence is dated 1643 and is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Scuth Kensington. Q. Is there a musical instrument known as the rebec?—L. O. U. A. The rebec was a stringed instru- ment played with a bow that enjoyed wide favor during the middle ages. Q. When it is said of a person that he is “untrue to salt,” what is meant? —D. 8. A. “Untrue to salt” is the translation of a Persian phrase meaning disloyal or ungrateful. Q. What amount of nitroglycerin is used to shoot the average oil well?— W. G. 8. A. The average is from 10 to 50 | quarts. Records show that the largest | shot used in a well was 1,000 quarts. | This shot was placed in a well in Texas. Compromise in the matter of the on the Tennessee River, suggested by conferees of Senate and House, has raised public hopes of ending the pro- lon%eed deadlock. While opinions appear to unchanged as to the principles involved, much attention is given to the proposal that the Government sell pow- er at the switchboard, but turn over the nitrate production to private inter- ts. “Most experts,” says the Indianapolis News, “regard the production of elec- tricity as the important work of the gigantic dam and structures surrounding it. The tactics of private power com panies in recent years have been 80 widely criticized that the transfer of the property to them in the manner they sought has evoked growing oppo- sition. Originally popular sentiment undoubtedly was largely in favor of a lease for all the buildings, but the decade that the controversy has raged failed to result in a private offer re- garded as even approximating fairness to the public. Meanwhile the plant is idle for the most part. It ought to be made of service, and in }:vlnt!el;ler !;xil:l isions Congress reaches the sale= S of t.h!: peoplei‘li lntares should of paramount consideration. be"'I'he original and confirmed advo- cates of Government operation of the plant, on which the United States has expended enormous sums,” accord- ing to the Charleston (8. C.) Evening Post, “are, not unnaturally, disposed to sniff suspiciously at the so-called com- promise grcusm forward by Representa- tive Reece of Tennessee. It looks like the real thing, but how did so diligent and doughty an opponent of the pin- ciple of Government operation come to propose it? * ¢ * The wer com- panies, of course, are the driving force of opposition to Government operation, but they have failed to produce a work- able plan for placing the property under their control with proper accounting to the Government, and they have suc- ceeded by their offensive methods in destroying public confidence in their disinterestedness, until it is probable that nothing short of a trial of Govern- ment operation of the Muscle Shoals plant will satisfy popular opinion. The whole thing has become so steeped in suspicion that nothing else will suffice, even though a dangerous experiment in Socialism may be*under:lkem' L) Looking forward to the possible suc- cess of the compromise proposal, the Kansas City Star declares that, in such circumstances, “it is probable that a question that has been a teaser for Congress throughout a decade will be finally settled.” The Star adds In | that case, no triumph could be claimed | by either the Government or privats operation advocates. It would not b | the first big issue that was ende through application of the compromise rinciple.” : z “Hy%melectrlc power, mnot fertilize 1s pointed out by the New York Sun, the real issue at Muscle Shoals, Jusll as hydroelectric power, not flood Cnn-l trol, irrigation or navigation of the Colorado River, is the real issue at Boulder Dam. Although construction at Muscle Shoals was gngmally au- thorized as a war measuré for the pro- duction of nifrates, it has now been found that nitrates probably can be manufactured more cheaply than by the use of hydroelectric power. Presi- dent Coolidge reported this fact to Congress. But ‘cheaper fertilizer’ is a good phrase with which to capture ag: ricultural support for a socialistic ad- venture of the Government into private business. If the Government must be kept in the hydroelectric business at Muscle Shoals, the most it ought to be rectulred to do is to sell power at the switchboard. It should not be required to construct transm age distribugién, collect fees vidual consgmers and otherwise a business that can be run bett more ecofiomically by private el A 1ot of fuss is mad: over who is go- ir; to be leader of the legislative bedier but the equally important question is Wwhe's going 1o be the back-seat driver, prise.” Muscle Shoals Compromise Viewed as Possible Solution “vindicated at the polls” and the latter as a “lame duck,” and continues as to the existing situation in Congress on this matter: “The Senate’s insistence on the acceptance of the Norris bill for public operation of Muscle Shoals is easy to understand. In the first place, the election of Progressives who have attacked the power monopolies, at the last national voting, was in a sense a mandate in favor of the Norris bill or a measure of its general nature. In the second place, the Norris bill has been approved in Congress heretofore. It passed both houses, but was given a pocket veto by President Coolidge. Last Apri] the Senate again accepted the Norris bill, The vote was not even close. Forty-five Senators (18 Repub- licans, 26 Democrats and 1 Farmer- Labor) voted in favor of the measure. Twenty-three Senators (21 Republicans and 2 Demucrats)‘vo*ted against it.” * * Observing “at least an even chance that the Muscle Shoals problem will be solved during the short session of Con- gress,” the Syracuse Herald states, “The most_notable evidence of the degree of the House concession is found in the statement of Representative Reece of Tennessee—the leader of the House struggle for a power as well as a nitrate lease and recently defeated for re- election—that ‘inasmuch as the pro- posed compromise goes more than half way upon the principle of Government | operation and provides a practical so- lution to the problem, we feel that no honest objection can be raised by any one who wishes the matter to be dis- posed of and to be removed from the game of political foot ball '“Many details remain to be worked out,” in the judgment of the Rochester ‘Times-Union, “before a feasible plan of operation has been framed and many opportunities for disagreement loom in the offing. But it is gratifying that some progress is being made to break the deadlock which has paralyzed action between the two bramches of Congress on this subject. It has become clear that neither side could win consent of the other without compromise. The clash is not one fundamentally on theories of public and private owner- ship, but results from difference of opinion as to the best method for get- ting a fair return out of the many mil- lions of public funds invested in the plant which was undertaken as a war enterprise to provide nitrates and other chemicals.’ Emphasizing difficulties that still con- front the members of Congress, the Co- lumbus Ohio State Journal argues: “Probably the Senate today needs most of all careful scientific information of probable results if the Government should operate the plant, Engineers have that information, but these scien= tists are not being called in for the pur- pose of giving expert testimony and helping the Nation chart the best course. That is what a private corpo- ration would do before it risked a large investment or planced a business career. It would seek the facts. That is not customary in politics and that is one reason why many political undertakings turn out to be failures.” Another National Need. From the Columbus Ohio State Journal. | What this country needs is a trans- parent rubber windshield. [ Zenith of Advancement. From the Minneapolis Star. And the whole history of civilization is revealed in these six words: “Wish I had a better car.” ———— An Aid to Crime. From the Louisville Times. ‘This country won't be ridden until machine a dollar down and a Aid for Political Jobless. From the San Antonio Express. really crime- are sold for llar & week. Viewing the battle as one largely two mam, Senator N sentative Reece, the o the Th: Senate can contribute a_little to uncmployment rellel by confiming = »