Evening Star Newspaper, January 3, 1931, Page 6

THE- EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY.....January 3, 1031 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .ldlto—r per Company A, .. London, &9 o at the end sent in by m SR Rate Mail—Payable in Advance. and Virginia. w and Sunday ay only All Other States and Canada. Efi. and Sunday..lyr.312.00: 1 mo. only - 5.3 $8.00: 1 mo.. v only $5.00; 1 mo.s the Assocla is excl ation of : titled ly entitle e Associated E d ispatches Now, Panama. y Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Guat- emala, now Panama! Northward the star of Latin American revolution seems definitely to be taking its course. Of the twenty other American republics outside of the United States, six within as many months have upset existing governments by force. It is a disturb- ingly heavy percentage ahd is a political portent the gravity of which it would be idle to deny. The United States’ interest in the Jatest revolutionary upheavai outstrips any concern we have had in its prede- cessors in South and Central America. Panama is the only Latin republic with ! which we share a common border, that of the Canal Zone, which is for all practical purposes United States territory. The isthmian republic came into existence in 1903 larg:ly under| American auspices. Panama and the | United States, under the 1926 commer- cial treaty which superseded the Taft| agreement of 1904, are partners in the defense and protection of the Panama Canal. It is also stipulated that “Pan- ama will consider herself in a state of war in case of any war in which the United States should be a belligerent.” By that clause in our present treaty with the Panamanians, we are allies. | On the same day that the govern-| ment of President Arosemena was over- thrown at Panama City, after a re- grettable loss of life, the Supreme Court of the Republic called Dr. Ricardo Al- faro, Panama's Minister to the United States since 1922, to the presidency. Dr. Alfaro will respond to his country’s smmmons. No solution of the unex- pected crisis could be happler, from the standpoint of the American people, who have come to know Dr. Alfaro as a valued friend. Panama has already had experience of his administrative skill, for he had served both as minister of justice and foreign minister before coming to Washington more than eight years ago. The United States felici- tates Panama on the wisdom of her presidential choice, and Dr. Alfaro, to- gether with his charming consort, on their distinguished new honors. Meantime the State Department is on the horns of one of those dilemmas which Latin America is continually creating. It has to do with recognition of the government that is now in eon- trol at Panama City as the result of yesterday's coup d'etat. Panama is not a signatory of the 1923 Central Amer- jcan anti-revolutionary pact which the United States sponsored but did not sign. Under that five-state treaty, it is .provided that there shall be no recognition of a government which does not hold office under indisputably _ constitutional conditions. Uncle Sam will probably apply to Panama the same attitude which Wash- ington assumed toward the Bolivian, Peruyian, Argentinian and Brasilian revolutionary governments. To each of them in turn we accorded recognition after it had indicated its willingness to fulfill international obligations and | appeared to represent the sentim:nt of the country. Certainly any Panamanian regime headed by Dr. Alfaro would almost automatically command the confidence, as it assuredly would the hearty good will, of this Government and people. —_———————— It is contended that beer can te legalized, but an old doubt remains as to whether it can be made to behave ftaelf. It is not regarded as a usual source of violent alcoholism, but it has been accused of many mild offenses, such, for instance, as repeating very old stories and singing off the key. The White House Reception. Every year, when reports are printed of the number of persons who have passed through the White House and shaken hands with the President in New Year greeting, proposal is made in some quarter that the custom of holding this “reception” at the Execu- tive Mansion should be abandoned, or the number of persons received re- duced by a strict limiting of the time. ‘The tax upon the President and his ‘wife in standing for several hours and exchanging greetings with thousands of people is too severe, it is urged, and they should not be subjected to this stress. Yet it is doubtful if there will be any change in the custom, which has become a veritable insti- lost in obscurity. It is & relic of the days when, in Washington at least, people made the rounds of their friends’ homes on New Year day to exchange greetings and to receive entertainment. Very early White House receptions were marked by the dispensing of “hos- pitality” in the form of slight repasts brilliant uniforms, were ushered into the White House immediately upon ar- rival, in accordance with a carefully arranged schedule, the general public was assembling outside of the mansion, standing in a long line that sometimes extended to the street and beyond the far corner of the War Department Building on the west. ‘The number of the unofficial callersi— the “public”—received has varied with the weather, yet even in the most bitter cold or the most drenching rain there has always been a ‘“queue” in front of the White House on New Year day by the time the President was prepared to recelve the representatives of the peo- Y | ple at large. On occasions the suffer- ings endured by these callers while walting for the opening of the doors have been acute, and doubtless in some cases serious iliness has resulted from exposure. Only in a few instances have the New Year receptions been omitted from the White House schedule, and these have always been due to some specific cause, such as the serious illness of & member of the presidential family or the in- disposition of the President himself, At such times the suggestion has invariably been advanced that the receptions should be permanently abandoned, but it has never recelved sufficient support to cause the discontinuance of a na- tional custom that has become appai- ently fixed. For the New Year reception is the one assured opportunity for the people outside of official life to enter the White House and meet the Chief Executive. For this reason, it is doubt- ful if it will ever be discontinued, what- ever the stress upon the President or the risk of the exposure to contact with many thousands. It is one of the un- official but established duties of the office thus once each year to meet the people of the country, ———— Roosevelt Denies Hands-off Policy. Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt does not like an interpretation placed upon his inaugural address which “asserts that he will not interfere in local affairs”"— meaning the affairs of New York Oity. In a telegram to the New York World, which gave this interpretation to the Governor's address, he says, “This is, of course, not even remotely true.” Gov. Roosevelt's interpretation of his own speech must necessarily be accept- ed. His telegram to the World must be construed as meaning that, if oc- casion requires, Gov. Roosevelt will in% terfere in the local affairs of New York City. He makes no statement of the kind or character of occasion that will cause him to interfere, however. Dur- ing the campaign last Fall, Gov. Roose- velt declined to widen the investigation of the charges that there was corrup- tion in the selection and appointment of judicial officers in New York City. He was criticized for the stand he took by the newspapers of New York, in- cluding the World. A rereading of the inaugural address of Gov. Roosevelt still leaves the im- pression that the Governor of New York was telling the people of New York City that the task of cleaning up their local government was their own, not that of the Governor in Albany. He mentioned having received a letter from an editor telling him tearfully that all local government had broken down and begging him as Governor “to usurp and assume the functions of the >fficials duly elected by the communities themselves.” The Governor called at- tention to the fact that there was in the appeal “an unconscious willingness to accept a tsar or absolute dictator in |’ Albany.” He did not say whether the editor was appealing for interference by the Governor in New York Ofty or in another city of the State. However, the affairs of New York Olty are and have been much in the public eye in recent months. Gov. Roosevelt also said in his ad- dress, “Let us not at this time pursue the easy road to centralization of au- thority lest some day we discover too 1late that our liberties have disappeared.” His appeal was to the citizens of the municipalities, including New . York City, to remedy their own affairs, al- though he said that the Stale govern- ment would, after a proper plan had been developed by the citizens, “lend their ald and sympathy to the granting of the necéssary authority.” Gov. Roosevelt could have made his address 8o clear that no misinterpreta- ticn could be placed upon it. He could have said that if need arose the power of the State government would be ex- erted to ald in wiping out graft and corruption in New York City. It may be said that there was no necessity for such a statement; that such action by the Governor would follow as speedily as day follows night. However, he was discussing the matter of municipal gov- ernment and the great need for its im- provement in New York State. And what he said was to the effect that the people of the cities and the counties must themselves bring about this im- provement if the principle of local self- government is to be maintained. Many murder plots keep the police busy following up clues. If they had the gift of turning their observations 1o the purposes of fiction they might be- come rich and the reading public at last provided with enough detective stories to satisfy an appetite that seems at present insatiable. —_——————————— *Science and the Law. Science puts law into many quan- daries. Not the least of these results from its cold-blooded demonstration that the honest testimony of honest eyewitnesses often has little more valid- ity than the dishonest testimony of dishonest eyewitnesses—that is, none at all. ‘Through the centuries legal procedure has been on the placid assumption that “seeing is belleving.” This has seemed to be a matter of common sense. If a witness to a murder is able posi- tively to identify the man whom he saw fire the fatal shot—especially if he is able to pick him from a line-up of strangers—this identification becomes very strong evidence against a defend- and moderately cheering libations. But this practice did not long prevail, and for ant. If an accused man can find a disinterested witness who saw him miles from the scene of a crime when it was committed, he has an excellent alibl. Such evidence appeals to & jury. It is convincing to detectives and prose- cuting attorneys. It results in many convictions. Yet its value is doubtful, regardiess of the integrity of the wit- nesses. ‘Take, for example, a recent “hold-up” case in the District. A man positively identified by the taxicab driver as the eriminal who robbed him, ‘was indicted for the crime. Yesterday ‘main confessed to it with \ THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, factual supporting testimony as to give considerable credibility to confes- sion. In the Mary Baker case, it will be remembered, on¢ man was “identified” by & disinterested witness as having been seen in the neighbor- hood of the crime scene and would have been in a serious predicament if an- other man who had talked with the “mysterfous stranger” had not denied the identification. What any man sees at any given time depends on a multi- tude of variables. The law does not seem to be entirely adjusted to this demonstrable unre- liability of the eyes—this relativity of vision to the total situation. Such an adjustment will be extremely difficult. It is hard for the traditional lawyer to grasp the concept that where the re- sults of objective experiment under controlled conditions are contrary to “common sense” it is the latter which must yleld. Unfortunately, the science which demonstrates the fallibility of tradi- tional procedure in criminal cases has nothing more reliable to offer. There are so many factors involved that any of the instrumental devices for detect- ing guilt—based largely on the uncon- scious but measurable physical end effects of increased adrenalin secretion under the influence of emotion—is even more unreliable than eyewitness iden- tification. ‘The lawyer can say with considerable justice that the psychologist has torn away cold-bloodedly one of the props of orderly soclety without providing = sub- stitute. The law hardly can proceed far on the basis that everybody is a liar, conaciously or unconsclously, because of the variability of the eyes, ears and noses and of the cerebral processes which are the essential factors in the acts of seeing, hearing or smelling. ‘The provision of the substitute re- mains for the psychologists of the fu- ture. The present must flounder in its quandary. o Aviation is still in its infancy, yet the time has already afrived when s two- stop flight from New York to Paris, as contemplated by Mrs, Hart and Capt. MacLaren, may be considered a step toward more deliberate and conserva- tive flying. ——————— A theater now in the course of dem- olition leaves behind it a lingering trace of drama; the story of a pretty girl usher whose fate would be worth the study of an accomplished play- wright. —————— Arrangements to receive the year 1931 could not have been more en- thusiastic. Business observers confi- dently expect it to conduct itself in a manner befitting a guest accorded so distinguished a welcome. Some winners of the Nobel prize are more popularly known than others. Publicity was not taken into considera- tion as a part of the prise competition, but it is a factor nonetheless. ——— A gréat deal of surprise was caused by the overthrow of the Panamsa gov- ernment. Revolutions in that general Yet When housecleaning on a large scale is undertaken, it may be found that there ére s0 many raflroads that some of them are in the way. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Valued Treasures, Only part of the new year left, With the hope fulfilled or the heart bereft. Only a part of the tolling year That will bring its grief or bestow its cheer. 4 For' time, hs the poet loves to sing, Is a fickle bird with & facile wing. So let's endeavor to be most wise, ‘Where time's concerned, let’s economise. Who cares for the jewel that flashes bright On earth, as ¢compared with the stars at night That circle to mark the passing year With so much that our thinking must make more clear! The copper coin and the golden disc Are sought with no heed of toll or risk— But the hours are what we should truly prise, And where omize. Meeting a Demand for Novelty. “I must admit,” said the loyal friend, [“that I did not fully understand your address to the amalgamated tinsmiths.” “Natural that you shouldn't,” an- swered Senator Sorghum. “I had taken the pains to read carefully about their aims and their occupation. You were looking cn' for polities and 1 tried out a new style of speech with, I am inclined to think, much success. The old political speech has its place, but you've got to put in some straight- forward information for the sake of novelty.” time’s concerned let's econ- Jud Tunkins says politeness may be misunderstood. He said “howdy-do” to a stranger and & policeman thought he must be some kind of a smooth villain lookin’ for a vietim, No Misunderstanding. “How do you prevent misunderstand- |ings among your guests as to seating precedence?” “There is never any misunderstand- answered Miss Cayenne. “Each has her clearly defined opinion and there is no doubt concerning it in any- body’s mind.” Undiminished. The holidays in grand parade Leave us surprised as now they fade. We'll bs encouraged by and by By joy's unlimited supply. Not all the dances have been danced Nor all the jazz left us entranced. “An old story well told,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “is like an ancient gem that has had the fortune o be set by an artist.” A Grim Profession. A farmer ohe day said to me, “Throughout most every season T've kicked a lot, T will agree— And mostly with good reason.” “A heap o' talk,” sald Uncle Eben, “sounds to me like somebody has fooled D. C., SATURDAY, JANUARY 3 THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. The strange antics of an old clipper | glass, ship barometer have diverted us ex- ceedingly since several days before Christmas. ‘This was one of the gifts we opened before the magic day, “just to be sure 1t works all right,” so we said. In passing, we may announce that we have no regrets in thus having vio- lated the unwritten law that Christmas gifts are not to be opened beforehand. As a general proposition, the edict may do very well, but in r cases, and according to individual tem- peraments, it was made to be broken. A cllpg: ship barometer, in case the reader never seen one—and he probably hasn't—is a strange-looking device indeed. It consists, in its modern interpre- tation, of a large pear-shaped glass, some 8 inches in length by about 4 in diameter at the largest point. The glass is closed at the top hangs by & hook of self-material, as the ladies would say, to & metal jigger affixed in the top of & wooden stand. ‘The most striking feature of the weather glass \is a long spout, which is about an iach in diameter at the bottom, narrowing to a quarter of an inch at the top. Beneath the glass, swinging on its glass ring. is a block of wood, in the center of which is pasted a rectangle of pink blotting paper. ‘Why pink, we will explain shortly. ** ‘The big idea is to fill the glass with water from the “spicket,” as the di- rections say on the back of its scaf- fold, so that the pressure of the outside air will affect the water in the bowl, and particularly in the spout. ‘The directions for filling not being precise, every purchaser can work up his own system. We tried three or four before finally deciding on the. one which must be correct. ‘The fond owner unfortunately ex- pects to see the water shuttie up and down inside the tube like an old-fash- ioned monkey on & stick. Well, it won’t do it, of course. It probably didn't do it when its ances- tors swung from davits, or whatever they swung from, aboard the famous clipper ships which carried the Yankee flag to the four corners of the world. No doubt in those old barometers, before the day of the aneroid type, the water in the tube only rose (as the result of a rapid fall in the air pres- sure) and bubbled out of the tip of the spout only when a real hurricane or its equivalent was imminent. * ok ok % The modern owner, however, con- fidently looks for a positive boiling in the tube, and, not getting it, decides that he has not filled the thing cor- by b { the tube under the “spick- et” Tnxh“mlt water to run in until the bowl is filled to about an inch above the top of the tube ‘Then the spout begins runs over. It is now necessary, according to our personal system, to tiit the affair until & few drops run out. action nat- urally causes a larye air bubble to form, which seems to be de ined to run backward and escape into the air space in the top of the pear-shaped bowl, or opening. to fll up and | Burea is formed above the water Shall we try one more drop? Watch out! Ah, that didn't get in. Well, let us stop now, and carefully lift the bell on its hook, where it swings in the breeze. Next, a few dnzgl of ordinary red ink are poured into the spout, down which they run, to mingle with the inner sea, giving the half-filled bowl & tinge of pink, neatly reflected on the wall paper behind. * ok ok K B0 there we are, all ready to set up a|ss s ‘weather prophet. Our success so far has been tre- mendous. We wonder why the Weather Bureau doesn’t avail itself of our serv- THE LIBRARY TABLE ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS " BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. tage. J. Haskin, director, The Evening Star Information Bureau, Washington, D. C. Q. Of the money spent in drug stores, what part s for medicines and what part for water?—C. E. A. Proprietary medicines account for 22 per cent of the total; prescriptions, .| 10 per cent; soda, 14 per cent; tollet ices. £o far, in all solemnity, we have | that the done & better job of predicting Wash- ington's weather than the bureau has. Do you remember there before Christ- mas, when the bureau kept on giving forecasts of cloudy and overcast? Well, the clipper ship barometer pre- dicted fair weather—and it was. It did this by keeping its pink water resolutely down in the tube, away down, that is, high in the glass, showing that the pressure was high. Then do you recall that Friday night and Saturday morning, when mingled rain, snow and a little sleet gave Wash- inj and suburbs the appearance of old-time Winter? ‘Well, this Chief of the Clipper Ship ‘Weather Bureau came down to the of- fice, in the midst of it all, and calmly predicted sunshine by early afterncon. It looked foolish, on the face of it, but the glass was high—that is, low in the tul d we trusted it. Sure enough, by noon the snow and rain had stopped and the sun had come out and our position as & prophet gone up 100 per cent. * kK % Then consider that pretty snow of Iast week. Right in the middle of it the water in the clipper ship barometer dropped from standing two inches high in the tube to almost vertical at the mouth of the bell section. Again we predicted—while it was snowing—clearing by noon, apd again our trust was rewarded. We will never be happy, now, until we see water bubbles coming out of the top of the spout. but that would mean a severe storm or something, so we rather hesi- tate to implore the instrument for such & drastic measure, even to satisfy our curiosity and pride in it. In let us add that of barometer is at and picturesque form of bookcase adornment, no matter what its_reliability as & weather prophet. If the States Weather u, with all its modern equipment, supplemented by telegraphic reports from all over the country, cannot al- ways “hit it” in forecasts, no one will think too harshly of a simple glass with water if it makes mistakes. Like Dr. Johnson's trick bear, the miracle is, not that it may not do it perfectly, but that it does it at all. Butler Attack on Profits In Foot Ball National side of foot ball has been aroused by the suggestion from Dr. Murray Butler, t of Colus University, that gate receipts be abolished and ~that ni take charge of defraying the cost of inter- collegiate contests. ‘The belief that “whenever three or four first-rate universities decide to interest in the commercial zfl'-hl New York Sun, with the sugges- 85 to the handling of the sport: “Foot ball is too fine & game to lose its popularity among players and spec- tators. Of late, however, it has become an amusement enterprise of vast prb- portions. Some of the boys are begin- ning to ask why they should toil like galley slaves to make money for alma mater and ney and reputation for the coach. Some day it may occur to them that the whole commercial process of modern foot ball would fail without their co-operation. They may then de- cide to put the fun back into foot ball al take the business out.” ‘Dr. Butler’s line of thought may be & very good one,” advises the Cleveland News, “but it secems to t several factors which unquestion: exert a influence on the situation. He appears to overlook, for example, the notion so persistent among university alumni that victorious athletic repre- sentation must be obtained at whatever cost. This notion must account for a great share of the abuses Dr, Butler deplores. It would scarcely be affected by any endowment fund. In some in- stances university authorities them- selves have given evidence of believing that the advertising worth of a winning foot ball team justifies professionalism. cor an endow- ment fund? And what of the proselyt- ing coach whose job depends on - ducing winners? The truth of the mat- ter is that just now popular esteem attaches too great importance to vic- tory and not enough to purity. Until this is corrected there is likely to be professionalism, regardless of the neces- sities at the gate.” * X ox Recent suggestions in favor of “com- petitive education” as a college activity and a program of physical education for all students is indorsed by the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, with the state- ment: “It may be that wholesome physical exercise for all students is a rational idea. If students which they must—they among themselves as individuals or as class teams. It might be s good idea to stop trying to beat all other colleges while furnishing en nt for the ying public which ht to be doing its own exercising. If this new athletic idea ever becomes established, the way may be cleared for reviving the quaint old educational idea which made culti- vation of the mind the primary work of colleges. Some intellectual competi- tion might be an interesting experi- ment.” “There is no other country in the world,” argues the Detroit Free Press, T i R ace ifi col ¢ as they do in the United lnu-.,'md t {'Apu also maintains that, “partly as a conse- quence, there is probably no other country in th> world that gets so little education for the amount of money that it spends on u%?on‘l institutions as “‘Free gates in athletics,” in the judg- ment of the Loulsville courl:r-.loumll. hisself till he 'magines he's got & 1ot mas mmmmnamup Wins Attention relegated eventually to its proper place, and education estaplished upon a more serious basis.” R “Foot ball for money,” agrees the Rochester Times-Union, “has grown up into a powerful interest among our col- leges. - Other sports look to its yield for the money 1o meet the expense of putting crews on the water and track teams In the fleld. A good many uni- versity authorities look to the foot ball team to supply their institutions with national advertising and to keep the alumni benevolent and productive. In fact, the strength of foot ball’s hold on academic life and thought sometimes leaves the outside observer in some doubt as to which is the tail and which is the dog. Dr. Butler's proposal would furnish & means for determining the answer to this interesting anatomical problem.” ‘The assertion that Dr. Butler makes “a hopeless plea” is made by the As- bury Park Evening Press, which be- lieves that “even his associates in the presidents’ chairs are not averse to g;l-fllutln' their educational re nsi- lities to, the publicity that a wi team brthgs” The Anniston Star however, is convinced that “students would not enter heartily into sports if the intercollegiate competition should be eliminated” and that “gate receipts bring the needed money and also funds for other pu " The New Bedford Standard declares that “there are risks in Dr. Butler's proposal-—not the least of them being the risk that the subsidy could not be raised.” “Many colleges are paying the way of ith foot ball profits, build- lower today than when he was a young man. He believes that In reading would be found the true antidote to the toxin of the increasing mechanization of life. But to serve that purpose the books, he sald, must be what De Quincey called the literature of power as distinguished from the literature of knowledge. For exam- ple, the mastery of an encyclopedia would never make & man educated. His address coptained the following note- worthy apothegm: “The prig is the man who believes thai all the gecrets of life can only be found in wooks. The fool is the man WHO beiieves that he can learn nothing of the secrets of life from books. The wise Aad happy are those who have dis- covepad—not at once, but slowly and by juulefbus and patient experiment— what books can do for them and what they cannot.” * X % Art critics, jurles who award prizes at art exhibitions, artists themselves, even the practitioners of ultra-modern art, if they have any grain of humor, cannot fail to enjoy the satire of A, P, Herbert in his novel “The Water Gip+ sies,” when he describes the periods of art development and the art creations jof the Hon. George Gordon Bryan, son of a baron. Little Jane Bell, daughter of a musician in a movie palace, who lives on a barge anchored near Hammersmith Bridge, on the ‘Thames, is Mr. Bryan's domestic serv- ant, his model, and his most frank art critic. ‘She ¢ives one look at his pic- ture of Brentford Lock aad tells him that when the lock emptacs his by will drift under the bridge, because isn’t tied up. She hopes when he paints her picture in “The Blush” he will not make her look like the portrait of a lady which hangs in his studio. “She stood before a set of airy banisters which were not attached to any stair and did not reach the floor. Her face was partly dark green and partly pale green, like the particoloured seas of Cornwall. She had only one eye, and that was a large oval of white specks which overflowed on to the spaces usu= ally reserved for the nose and fore- head. She had two breasts, one the size of a melon and the other no larger then a plum. Her hair, unhappily, grew only on one side and hung down over her left shoulder in melancholy snakelike wisps, some black, some cream-coloured. Across her stomach she held her right forearm, which, affected with some sort of elephantiasis, grew h.l'xcr and larger from elbow to wrist and terminated in a monstrous talon. Beside her sat another female shape of similar appearance, but with a white face and green hair. The only other object in the picture was a table, but the table was drawn severely in normal likeness of a table, with straight legs and a square top. * * Without the table the ladles might have been taken for supernatural or fantastic creatures, gnomes or extinct monsters; but this dull perpendicular kitchen table made it clear that these misshapen horrors were female human beings.” As Mr. Bryan proceeds with the painting of “The Blush” he is sur- prised and somewhat dismayed to find that it looks like a very human Jane. “Without intending it, even without noticing it, he had drawn Jane in & new style—a style not his own—no tri. angles, no cubes or stovepipes, but a s figure with two eyes, with & nose and & mouth and two arms the same size—a figure, moreover, which was quite like Jane. He had come very near to the unforgivable in art, a re- semblance, almost & ‘photograph.’ What did this mean?” * K K ¥ In his new book aon ‘“Universities— American, English, German,” Dr. Abra- ham Flexner has followed the same procedure that he adopted 20 years ago in dealing with medical schools. e book is based on first-hand information and investigation and, while construe- tive in its attitude, is a frank and severe criticism _of university methods and ideals. Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Wis- consin, Johns Hopkins receive the great- est share of unfavorable attention; but specific ¢l are brought against Dartmor ford, Vassar, Pennsyl- inia, Michigan, Rollins and others. “They have. thoughtlessly and exces- sively catered to fleeting, transient and immediate demands; they have mis- e taken the relative importance to civill- both sides of the fence.” Dr. Butler no doubt had in mind,” says the Des Moines Tribune- Capital, “was that if the alumni had to pay for their fun—for they, more than any insist upon highly competi- tive intercollegiate contests—they would let the colleges manage their own af- fairs and restore sports to something like their proper place. Perhaps Butler has not thought his scheme out to its logical end. It would be more effective if every time an alumnus made a sug- gestion he would have to pay $100; for every demand, $500. And any alumnus who wished to fire the foot ball coach for losing the big game of the season would have to pay $5,000. The Colum- bia president’s plan should not be dis- missed too soon. It is on the right r——— Soldier Fills the Bill. From the Charleston (8. C.) Evening Post. Dodging bullets is one of the most important oecupations of a Spanish premier, which may be why the job usually goes to a soldier. —.— Better Use Possible. From the Springfield (Mass.) Republican. Col. Lindbergh thinks the day is com- ing when men and women will use air- planes as they do automobiles. Not as they use them now, let us pray. ——r——— Full Cargoes. From the Roanoke Times. If Secretary Doak really succeeds in rounding up all the gangsters for de- portation, 1931 ought to be a very profitable year for the big steamship companies. oo Premium on Literary Habit. From the Manchester Union. In Erie, Pa., school children carrying books can ride free on the street cars. ‘Which may be one way to encourage literary habits, True Seat of Fear-Quakes. From the Toledo Blade. A scientist says all fear reactions originate in the brain. He might ex- pand the story by telling how quickly they reach the knees. No Lethal Lilt. From the Oakland Tribune. e muisances, 1t has ‘ogen Neoks now 25 weel 3'.7. the Nation mn,'umm entirely fo & popular seg. zation of things and ideas; they have falled, and they are, in my opinion, more and more failing to distinguish between ripples and waves. They are in my opinion becoming more and more tumultuous,” declares Dr. Flexner of the universities in general And he finds them “needlessly cheapened, vul- garized, and mechanized.” His criticism of particular universities is no less severe. some of the adjectives he applies to practices of Columbia, which, with the University of Chicago, he blames for the introduction of “the ‘chain_store’ concept” into higher education. He re- tails some of the requirements of the University of Wisconsin and asks, “Is it strange that the general American public is utterly at sea as to what edu- catlon is, as to what purpose the colley serves, as to where the line should drawn between mere tricks, vocational experience, and intellectual develop- ment, when great universities descend to such humbug as to confer the degree of bachelor of arts or bachelor of science on the terms above described? * * * Those responsible for the demoral- ization of the American college are not only lacking in intellectual rectitude, but—what even more disastrous— lacking in a sense of * K k% During a recent banquet at the Savoy Hotel, London, George Bernard Shaw g%w‘.d the following toast, which, m & man so little given to eulogy, is & bit surprising: “To the greatest of our contemporaries—Einstein.” This high estimate of the great mathematical gnlul 1s supported by Archibald Hen- , author of the new book, “Conf Immortals.” Henderson, whose work represents & careful evalua- tion of the great figures of today and a selectlon of 12 of them (including George Bernard Shaw) for discussion, makes preparations, 10 per cent; tobacco, 8 per cent; candy, 5 per cent; leaving 31 per cent to account for all other purchases. Q. Where is the rock known as the Pl Buttress located?—8. W. e Flying Buttress is in Gallatin ional Forest in Montana. Q. Is the international date line % this side or the other side of Hawall —8.D, P, A. The International Date Line is the one hundred and eightieth meridian, di- rectly opposite Greenwich, and is west of Hawall, Q. How big is the ordinary para- chute?—F. I H. A. The standard airplane parachute when opened has an umbrella spread of 24 feet. Q. Which does the most damage to modern highways, heat and cold or traffic’—R. E. W. A. Engineers say that traffic does most of the damage to roads. Q. How can_one detect chicory in coffee?—T. Y. R. A. Chicory can easily be detected in coffee by adding the ground material slowly to a glass of water. Chicory sinks at once. Q. What is a crucible made of?— A. A McG. A. Numerous materials are used in the manufacture of crucibles, each hav- Ing its own peculiar advantages and dis- advantages. Platinum is an ideal mate- 'vial for many purposes, but it is ex- ceedingly expensive and it cannot be A. Tia Juana begins at the and the center of town is several blocks away. Q. How lo& after the Custer massacre were bodies of the troops found?—J. W. W. A. On June 25, 1876, the Ouster massacre otcurred. The bodies tound the next day. Q. How much alcohol did pre-war whisky contain?-—R. P. i i and a great pressure, during the formation Successful attempts to cofditions artifically have out by Prof. Molssan of Paris, and by the Prof. The method employed ing pure il English chemist fir and exerts a powerful pressure upon the mass. When the iron | interior | dissolved in acid, and black par- ticules remain which exhibit the prop- erties of genulne diamonds. No stones that are large enough to be of commer- clal value have yet been prepared, and while the process is of great theoretical interest, it is far too expensive in com- parison with the yleld to be e R pot or pol 3 e e e ing $2,000 ylelded ome-half karat ef diamond powder. Q. When did Geraldine Farrar sing first in Paris?>—H. G. A. Farrar made her Afirst public appearance in_ Paris in the part of Marguerite in May, 1905, Q. Why do Senators leave the Senate while & speech is being made? Isn't it gon;lder:d insuiting to the speaker: A. Often many of the Senators have already studied the question being dis- lleagues and. used fos the fusion of metals. Nickel 18 |-(iva Benbie somefenr® used instead on account of its cheapness. Clay, or a mixture of clay with sand, graphite, or old broken crucibles, is a favorite material, and Hessian crucibles, composed of equal parts of clay and sand, are in very gen- eral use. “Appalling” and “flagrant” are | thi the following comment: “I divine in Einstein the most remarkable com- mu of art and science the world has wn since that completest flowering in the figure of Leonardo da Vinci. i ‘Willlam T. co-author with Waddill Catchings of the new book, i and Plenty,” prophesies a re- turn to normalcy during 1931, Discuss- “The Business Outlook,” zdl& ¥ He believes the bottom hss already been reached, |ask l.ad '.hnmlrom n;:dm u‘";( will be rd: st u) ency. g m‘%ny—nu“ maxim uyeau-.n?, to bring back better times, declaring that only liberal ean keep industry and trade active, Q. What are the “15 health rules” and who established them?—K. L. A. Probably you refer to Irving Fisher’s health rules. They are: “Ven- tilate every room you occupy; wear light, loose, and porous clothes; seek out-of-doors occupations and recrea- tlons; sleep out of doors, if ible; breathe deeply; avold overeating; eat sparingly of meats and eggs; eat some hard, some bulky, and some raw foods each day; eat slowly; move the bowels regularly and frequently; do not allow maom and infections to enter the ly; keep the clear; atand. sit. and WA ereek: ot | 3 play, rest, and and keep happy.” Q. When will Halley’s comet appear again?—F. D. 8. i G A. Halley's comet seen again until 1986, Q. How far is the business center of sleep in moderation; Highlights on the is not due to be | A. there are always lmthn to w'.l;:. is going el among are mlormly ition on some ;wmunu j ¥ meetings which must of the work which must do. is lnvhl:hthflh cut out of white paper and pasted upon & black background. Wide World Excerpts From Newspapers of Other Lands wned, bony, uncuHh‘voluble creature with short &l and boots and a muscle like unto that of a male cricketer in a suburban eleven. She i8 rather nice to look at and she is handy when some one is wanted to lift the heavy end of a log, but she is not the sort of creature whom any sane man wants to marry. She is too straight a shot with the suit the peaceful joys of domestic life, and when she starts to clean out the house with a chair leg even a child of Anak has got to go and sleep in the woodshed. ‘There are several scores of these young ladies loose in Australia just now, and some of them held a gymnastic corroboree at Mel- bourne the other day, which the pa- B T e gl 2 “rosy, well devel irls,” who wore “white cotton lhir?:dlnfil blouses.” We protest against these exhibitions, and all their consequences, cotton shirts and blouses included. Man wants but little here below, but he wants to get that little quietly, and when he comes home tired and disgusted and has to box 18 rounds to decide whether or not he must take his wife to the show, chances are he'll take to drinl * Kk X Oxford Suffers From Traffic and Women. Le Matin, Paris.—The students of the University of Oxford have a jour- nal which appears under the name of Isis. The readers and readeresses of Isis lately had the opportunity to read e follow “Oxford er: inconveniences and women. The women who have come here to be educated would have done far better had they stayed at home. In the first place are not agreeable to look at. In the streets they ride bicycles and permit s e’ of locomotion to display frightful e: of woolen hose. In the lecture rooms they nibble at choco- late and biscuits. They 3 general, neither charm, ity mnor Is there not lol!‘;:zi:od‘};‘ "how'it’g em P ol i is there a single French student of the feminine sex who de- 1 education at Thieves Find It More Difficult to Make Living. El Universal, Mexico, D. F.—An in- cident which shows that the contem- porary decline in emoluments is not alone a manifestation of commercial pursuits was evidenced in a peculiar crime. It seems that thieves also are finding it more dfficult to make a living, while in a condition superin- vedro, while in a superin- duced by a number of unwise pota- tions, was set upon by four ruffians who desired to rob him as he lay in a door- way of the Avenida Brasil. Finding no pocketbook, nor any money in his clothing, but, observing some gold shining within the recesses of his mouth, the bandits abstracted his arti- ficial teeth and departed with them. Senor Alvedro asseverates loudly, “Jamas otra vez!”—“Never again!” * ok ok X King Alfonso Rides Tramecar to Victoria Theater. A B C, Madrid—A story exem- plifying the simplicity and friendliness of King Alfonso is told earlier visits to London. attend a performance at ‘Theater, a prominent peer recommend- of one of his|f| iring to the Victoria | position upon one of the avenues of the Guayaquilenian nicipality, it could be seen from direction. “The present editor, Don Jose tillo, president and former director of the Sociedad Anonima El Tel o, 18 ol A % no nes Pl SEoh e by al y o tributed much to the amazing develop- ment of his own central mu- every nd also been ordered “La sincere mmtuhduau contemporary, and pra; tinued health and Senor Don Jose of the en Eduardo, and of its manager. Santiago, both “mml men filled wide and bri] it culture, wi aided the achievements of El Tel by the lcknovlognd suj ity of their comprehension of, an in, all phases of journalistic endeavor.” WillmottLewis, Knighted, Long Regarded as Prince From the Baltimore Sun. ‘The American friends of Willmott Lewis, Wi it for the London es, have so garded him as a prince that his nation as Knight British Empire will look to most of them like a demotion. To knight Bill Lewis is at least tion. For, if there Mnedl‘hfcde ed, in jest, that his majesty journey | paris of 17 there by tramear, The King, believing this the quickest method, did so, and was jolted about among the D!OEI who crowded the plebeian vehicle. ving near the theater, he dismounted, and a litan day ons, accompanied out the least laborer, on being | even