Evening Star Newspaper, January 14, 1931, Page 8

A—8 THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, WEDNESDAY. : JANUARY 14, 1931. A : : : -_— = e DA, TASESm O D Ly WROSASDAY, JANVARY 18 L - m” ‘THE EVENING STAR ]youw struts around in the middle | ‘With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. ‘WEDNESDAY . . .January 14, 1931 THEODORE W. NOYES. ...Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company ness Office: !ll::'“'g ?Qi and Pennsylvania Ave. Office: 110 g0 ‘opean Office: 14 Regent St.. London, Ensland. East 4and B Lake Michigan Bullding. the City. 45c rer month r 60c per month 5 65¢ per month 5c per col Rate by Carrier Within Evenine Star.. P The BV ndays. e Star .0, Collection made at the end of each mo: grdeu may be sent in by mail or telepbor Ational 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland ani inia. iy and Sunday.....1 aly only ... 1 unday * only 1yt ¥T.. $10.00: 1 mo.. 85 £6.00: 1 mo.. 50c 54.00: 11n0.. 40c All Other States and Canada. aily and Sunday..l sr.. $i aily only ...l unday only Dyl 1l 50c | Member of the Associated Press. The Assoctated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of il news dis- atches credited 10 it or not otharwise c1ed- ed in (his so_the local rews All rights of publication of tches herein are also reserved. necial dis i Help in an Emergency. The difficulty facing the American R°d Cross in. raising. the sum of ten million dollars for relief of the drought sufferers, if any difficulty there is to be, is to picture the extent and the enor- mity of this disaster in a manner that will bring it home to those citizens who by reason of fortunate circumstance have fiot felt its blighting effects. The spontaneous response 1o such appeals in the past has in large measure been due to the nature of ‘the disast-rs calling | for relief. Earthquakes in Japan, floods | in the valley of the Mississippi, the | havoc wrought by fire or cyclone, pre- sent the horror of misfortune and sud- den tragedy in so tangible a form that the urge to give springs from an other- Wwise unexpressed sympathy and the human desire to help. The aftermath of the drought has brought suffering and want and actual hunger that is hard to realize, for it lacks the spectacular elements of more sudden and unexpected forms of catastrophe. But as the President said in his proclemation yesterday, “the familiarity of this situation, due to months of press reports of its progress, should not blind us to the fact that it is an acute emergency, nor dull our active sympathies toward our fellow | countrymen who are in actual want and in many cases will lack the bare neces- sities of life unless they are provided for.” The fact that the headlines have been carrying the news of the calamity of the drought since last Summer does not make the emergency less pressing. The first practical opportunity for the average American to help his stricken countrymen in the drought and principal unemployment areas of the Nation has now besn provided. “The American Red Cross is the Nation’s sole agency for relief in such & crisis. It is meeting the demand and must continue to do so during the re- mainder of the Winter.” During the height of the widespread suffering resulting from the Mississippi flood the Red Cross was feeding 325,000 persons. Now, with the suffering fiom the drought still to reach its peak, the Red Cross is feeding 405,000. Its fund, held in reserve for disasters, is being used and has been used for many months. The new appeal is faunched after a careful study of what must be done during the remainder of the Win- ter. Ina radio address last night, Chair- man John Barton Payne described some of the oonditions in iselated -com- munities where “families are, in many instances, almost without clsth- ing, little children being clad in rags roughly sewed together. None of these families has food. Eight and ten in families were sleeping on floors with a few sacks for cover.” multiplied by thousands. Here in Washington, with a Red Cross quota of $100,000, there is soon to be launched the annual appeal for support of the Community Chest. The one call represents Washington's debt to the Nation as it moves to the al- leviation of Nation-wide suffering and want. - It is essential that the public bear in mind the fact that not one dollar of the Red Cross fiund will be spent to relieve local unemployment or distress. The Chest represents our debt to our own community’s year-round work in behalf of the needy, intensified this Winter by local unemployment con- ditions. Response to one call does not negative response to the other. The two appeals do not conflict. Each is imperative, and each will be met. —e——— A favorite trick of the detective story writer is to create bewilderment by in- vendng & large number of clues. In the Limerick case the idea has appar- ently been put into actual practice. b The Schoolboy Patrol. The schoolboy patrol sponsored by the American Automobile Association in many cities is an excellent organization and probably saves many lives during the year. The Washington patrol has made a high record for efficiency. But lately, in the District, in certain sec- tions of the city, the youthful guardians of the safety of their schoolmates have drifted away from the manual of a pa- | trolman’s duties and have attempted to become traffic policemen, both for ve- hicles awd pedestrians, greatly to the annoyance of the public A patrolman’s duties are well out- lined. He is to wait on the curb until & group of children gather. When | there is a break :n traffic he is either to send the group across the street or personally escort He is a traffic po- liceman in neither fact nor theory. He is merely a particularly bright member of his class to whom is given the re- sponsibility of promoting the safety of his mates. It may well be said “boys will be boys” and that given the canvas Sam Browne belt, the yellow rain slicker and a sense of superiority over other chil- dren it is only natural for the patrol- man to puff up so far with his own im- portance that he will attempt to emu- late a real traffic policeman. The point is, however, that these tactics defeat the very purpose of the patrol. Other children pay very little attention to this type of guardian. The patrolman him- sell is in danger of being run down. Adult pedestrians would rather find their own way across and motorists are annoyed when forced to make unncces- 1 c | by which childish swagger is displayed. |for the safety of children be rendered of the street for the edification of his | friends. Probably no movement for safety has ever recelved greater support from the motorist. Children in the streets are one on his chief concerns while driv- ing and any movement tending to re- duce the number of times that a child will suddenly appear from behind a parked car or dart across thedine of traffic will find his ready support and co-operation. But, like every one else, if his rights are abused by an unau- thorized person he is likely to become a trifie careless in giving full co-opera- tion. This is most unfortunate, but nevertheless it is human nature. No motorist objects to inconvenlence of any kind if it means protection for children, but by the same token no motorist desires to become the medium Scheol officials will do well to look into this matter lest a fine constructive plan less efficient s ety The Pre-Convention Turmoil. This is the “Winter of discontent” in politics. It is a normal condition, this being the season just ahead of the preparatory period preceding the quad- rennial ccnventions and the subsequent campaign for the presidency. Every four years this peculiar situation oc- curs, with political leaders mancuver- ing for position, sending up trial bal- loons as it were. Practically everything that is done in Congress, whether in terms of action or in mere words, is of the units of the Mall-Avenue triangle | group, to be maintained intact or per- haps reconstructed and merged with an adjacent new unit on the east. It is most gratifying to Washing- tonians to see this project advancing. For many years it has been felt that the District government was inadequately equipped, with its bureaus scattered in inefficient detachment, with accommo- datlons in many cases shockingly below the requirements of public comfort, safety and even decency. With the Municipal Center completed, the Dis- trict’s administrative organization will have a home of befitting dignity. - Voices Across the Sea. That was a very notable cablegram which The Star received the other-sdme things over and over again with- day from an American who is now resi- dent of Cartagena, Colombia. His radio receiving set brought him last Satur- day night, as clearly as if the speech had been delivered in some nearby South American country, the address which Senator Nye of North Dakota gave in the National Forum, arranged by The Star, over a Nation-wide hook- up of the Columbia Broadcasting Sys- tem. “At 9:45 o'clock Saturday night,” Mr. J. W. Flanagan of Cartagena, tele- graphed, “Senator Nye's wonderful speech was very distinctly heard here. * * * Thanks to radio and The Wash- ington Star, the work so unselfishly and patriotically directed by himself is appreciated not only "at home, but throughout the world.” It would be difficult to conceive a “for political effect.” The Congressional Record is to bs read as a digest of partisanship, sometimes requiring a key | for understanding, but still fairly pla to the rank if not the file of the pi- litical forces. Just now an exchange of letters be- tween Chairman Raskob of the Demo- demand from former Gov. Smith of | New York that the executive directcr of the Republican National Committee, | Mr. Lucas, make amends for a certain | bit of campaign “literature” which was | spread in Nebraska in the course of the Norris running as a Republican despite | dential ticket in 1928. This was a car- toon based upon an alleged statement by Gov. Smith in a letter to the Joel | Parker Association of New Jersey, which was undeniably a fake and was so de- nounced at the time. ernor, whose political position is just now in some degree of dubiety, wants as many the original cartoon, namely, eight hun- | dred thousand. This is a specific re- | quirement which will probably not be | granted. Republican National Committee, which has just been sent out to Republican precinct leaders throughout th: coun- try, appealing to them not to permit the Democrats to “break down the people’s confidence thereby elect a Democrat in 1932.” That, of course, will draw fire from Democratic headquarters, perhaps from the well advertised publicity bureau Q(l the National Democratic Committee, the director of which has bzen pre- Sueh cases are |sented in full-length portrait to the public by the same Mr. Kent who is is indeed altogether | nitial million will cover the first stage | which cratic National Committee and F‘l’lnk' Kent, a political writer of note, holds | interest as the most entertaining hap- pening for some time. Mr. Kent objects ; to the mortgage grip which Mr, Raskob, he says, has upon the Democratic party through his holding of its notes, for money loaned, Jarge money used in the campaign of 1928. Mr. Raskob rejoins in terms of vigorous and indignant de- nial of any “ownership” cr creditorship. Mr. Kent replies with even more specific charge and pointed personal references. | This correspondence is distressing to | the Democrats, but greatly heartening ! to thé Republicans, who have had really Almost simultaneously with the Kent- Raskob outbreak of feeling comes a canvass in that State, with Senator | his support of the Democratic presi- The former Gov- “retractions” circulated as Next there is a letter from this same Mr. Lucas as executive director of the in Herbert Hoover and now swapping letters with Mr. Raskob. Of course, the Senate is contributing richly to the midseason pre-convention preliminary product of political litera- ture. Indeed it is acting as a sort of clearing house for all this exchange of notes. It gives publicity to them through the columns of the (:(7l’lgl'esslol'mll Record so that he who runs his eye through the pages of that compendium | of American letters will haye no diffi- culty in keeping up with the times. It lively season. e Clearing away old bulldings to make room for Government structures leaves | many unsightly spots. The task, once undertaken, should be proceeded with as rapidly as possible. S The Municipal Center. With the submission to the Bureau of the Budget by the District Commis- sioners of an estimate of $1,511,164 as the initial amount to be included in the 1932 appropriations for the District Municipal Center, an approximate time schedule is outlined to indicate the prospective progress of this work. Of the amount stated, $266,664 is specified for the work of clearing the site, a contract for which is to be let, it is expected, about January 1, 1932. This will not be the entire amount required for this purpose, but is all that will be spent in the appropriation period end- ing in June, 1932. Similarly $1,000,000 is asked for the construction of the first unit of the group, the courts build- ing, the totalycost of which is estimated at $6,000,000, and a contract for which will be let about March 1, 1932. This of the work within the appropriation | period. Thus it appears that in a little less than a year the first actual move in construction will be made on the site, the acquisition of which has been in progress for some months, and which has now progressed to the point at the enterprise itself can be undertaken. Of the total site about 68 per cent has been purchased at a cost of $4,413,676. By well before the time when it will be needed for con- struction the remainder of the area will be in the District’s possession. No estimate is made of the time when the administration building, which will be the third step in the procedure and the second construction unit of the group, will be ready for occupancy. ‘This, however, will be a period of sev- eral years. Until then the District gov- ernment will continue to use its housing fronting on E street at 14th, which will eventually pass into the posses- sion of the Federal Government a6 one more classic illustration of the won- drous, far-reaching power of broadcast- ing. Voices have taken the place of hands “across the sea.” Kings, prime ministers, foreign secrelaries, scientists, philoscphers, poets, now commonly ut- ter their views mnot merely for their own peoples or nearby nations. They can, through the magic medium of the microphone, be heard, as The Star's Colombian cable correspondent truly ob- in serves, “throughout the world.” Mankind is on the march, and radio is carrying it forward, so to speak, in 50,000-watt boots. ———————— Fortunately for American political af- fairs, a man who gains prominence by amusing the audience is not compelled to refrain from serious thought after he is elected. Oklahoma is confident that “Alfalfa Bill” will eventually turn the Jaugh on the public that was so ready to regard him chiefly as a come- little to gladden them for some time. | gian, et By demanding an apology for a “wet"” cartoon, Alfred E. Smith may have it in mind to take the picture so seriously that it will not even be considered passably funny. ————r————— America has been liberal in reliev- ing the distresses of the world and may be depended on to find the means of caring for her own people in the hour of calamity. ——— Russia has decided that some Chi- nese railroads are about due for merg- ing with the transaction supervised, of course, by Soviet management. ———— ‘The public affairs of Panama are again disturbed by the idea of rotation in office, combined with efforts to re- vive the ancient doctrine, to the victors belong the spoils. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Love and Philosophy. Says Larry, “It can't be denied That deep in love am I. 1 mention it with candid pride, And often with a sigh. But if you ask what love can be, T'll greet you with disdain And ask why you should trouble me About things you can't explain. “Since our philosophers declare ‘That mysteries so great Are thrown about us everywhere Our lives to complicate, Il be like Einstein and will show, With confidence so grand, ‘Things that quite readily I know The world can't understand.” Lure of the Pictures. “Why do so many eminent politicians decide to interest themselves in motion pictures?” “There is a charm about the camera,” said Sehator Sorghum, “that few can resist. Some of my eloquent associates | are convinced that only their excep- tional intellects kept them from being matinee idols.” Jud Tunkins says among the innocent who suffer with the gullty are the plain, straightforward citizens who have to hear all the details placed before a coroner’s jury. 3 * Affection’s Task. Folks heard the politicians shout And =aid, “They go on toiling thus That they may prove beyond a doubt Affection that they feel for us. As vigorously they vocalize, We listen to them and admire And know their memories we shall prize At last in Fame’s eternal choir.” Pleasure ‘of Quietude, “Willie has broken all his Christmas drums and frumpets” said the boy's mother. L30% “Yes,” replied the father. “I paid him to take them apart for investigation. In this way he could cultivate his talents for research and, incidentally, we could all have a good, time.” “To be indifferent to public opinion,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “will make you either ‘a very great per- sonage or a very insignificant one.” Sure to Entertain. ‘The motion picture brings us joy, For, if you do not like the show, The literature it will employ For boosting never will prove slow. “It's so easy to make excuses,” said Uncle Eben, “dat dey'd soon make mos’ anybody rich, only dar ain’ no market fur 'em.” —— e Gtains ‘and Gains. From the St. Louls Globe-Democrat. ‘The drop!ol 10 rgau lth\md.reg a the price of sugar not €noug] :mu& a third spoonful in the morning cup. The advantage is to be summed up in grains, not table measurements. R ) Seats of the Mighty. From the Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot. | this can be done with & seed catalogue. THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. The gentleman was carrying a copy of a seed catalogue which no doubt he had received in the mo mail. - He could not part with it, evidently, but had to take it with him to office. We could sympathize with him, for we had spent the evening before with a copy of the same catalogue. What matters it if snow and sleet are on the ground, and rain is coming down? ‘The time of the year to read the announcements of new and old things for the garden is right now. That is why the arrival of the annual books from the seedsmen is almost exciting. Here one has a chance to read the out becoming bored. It is amazing how Here we read accounts of old plants, facts which we have known since we got_interested in gardening. ‘Throughout the land, in every city, suburb, town, hamlet, and on farms, men and women are getting real de- light these long nights in turning over the pages of their favorite seed cata- logues. One may wonder if there are any other such lists in the world which have such an enthusiastic audience. There is scarcely a word of this news which is new, but that makes no dif- ference, Even the “novelties” are not so nevel, but neither does that make any dif- ference. What all of us are concerned about are things which we know to some degree, Indeed, it is the rencewal | of acquaintance which is fascinating. * ok Turnips, beets, radishes, melons— these things are elementals of living. Whether one grows them or not, he knows them, and appreciates them, and perhaps loves them. There is a certain satisfaction in reading this “news” that never grows old because it dis old as the hills, Here one may | succumb to the lure of a colored page, depicting cornflowers, of all things, Centaurea Cyanus. Are they, indeed, this pretty? Some call them Ragged Sailor; others, Bluet. Here they are in pink, blue, and maroon, almost as large as asters. Surely we shall have to try some this Spring. Surely? Our “surely,” in regard to the enticing things of the seed cata- logues, is, as every one else's, scarcely more than a wish. What would we not plant, we tell ourself, if we had the money, and the time, and the space? Surely we would try Scabiosas, despite our failure with them several years ago. This is the old-fashioned Mourning Bride, or Pin-Cushion plant; why called the sad title we do not know. Wall Flowers and Wind Flowers would be on our list. We would try some Esch- scholtzia, or California Poppy, “beauti- ful and brilliant annuals which have been greatly improved in recent years.” We have been going to order them for | at least six years. Why does one not? | The call of the old things, the sturdy, known zinnias, petunias, etc., is too great, no doubt. One cannot forget them. This year we make the old resolve. ‘We will not forget them. But we will get some of the other ones, too. It is a vow made a million times by a mil- lion people, and no doubt it is broken many, many times; just how many it would be impossible to say. Here is one | whose name pleases: Heuchera, Coral Bells, or Alum Root. And another, | Liatris, Blazing Star, or Gay Feather. It is a poor plant, indeed, which does not have two or three names. Lavatera, or annual mallow (not to be confused | with the marshmallaws, the hibiscus, its cousin). One might wish to try Li- naria, variety Cymbalaria, otherwise | known by the intriguing names of Kenilworth Ivy, or Mother of Thou- sands. . We see named here a rose whose originator has applied for a patent, in order tb control its propagatioh ‘for ‘a | the famous “Sensitive Plant,” new things, and copyrights on books, why not letters patent on new plants? So here we have some real news, after all. The publishers of the catalogue express the belief that the patent ap- plied for in this case is the first on any lant. » 65 Here Is one which we must try, if for no other reason than its mouth- filling e, Agapanthus Umbellatus, or Blue Lily of the Nile. The illustra- tion shows it growing in a tub at the foot of some steps. It has thick leaves, and spikes of flowers. ‘We know that a good picture can sway our choices, at least our inten- tions, for these not always turn into actual selections. Surely we must have some of this new Golden Marguerite, and this Japanese Speedwell. The Ar- meria, Sea Pink, or Thrift, a good name for times of depression, attracts by its name, as 50 many do. And here is Oenothera, the Evening Primrose, which in last year's catalogue, we re- member it well, had a colored page all to itself. Now it is relegated to a paragraph. What system do the seeds- men use, in determining which plants to “play up"? The Physostegia, False Dragon Head, or Obedient Plant, claims our wander- ing attention. We see that you are able to bend the individual flowers to any angle, where they will “stay put.” This action is the opposite to that of which wilts upon being touched by the human hand. You recall that Shelley—or was it Keats?—wrote a poem about the latter. Surely the Spiraea, Goat’s Beard, or Meadow Sweet, ought to find a place in the border of every well regulated garden. And hereare the Meadow Rue, and Trillium, the latter the familiar Wood Lily of every amateur botanist, the Wake Robin of John Burroug! The “fireside gardener's” attention is attracted by the large number of plants ending with the termination “wort. Here he finds the Starwort, the Lead- wort, Lungwort, Soapwort, Spiderwort, Thoroughwort, Colewort, Figwor Woundwort, St. John's Wort, Madwort, Sandwort. ‘Those familiar with the process of brewing know that the “wort” is the sweet infusion of malt which ferments. As a definition, a wort is any liquid in incipient fermentation. Sugar in dilu- tion and fermentation gives alcohol and carbon dioxide. But “wort,” as a word, goes back farther than that. The Anglo-Saxon had wyrt, meaning herb, or root. Mid- dle English had wort, and wurt, the latter from the German. The word | means a plant or herb of any kind, es- pecially a_pot herb. The word is now used chiefly in combination, as given in the list above. The list is interesting chiefly as showing the imagination of the com- mon people, who gave names to the flowers, as they seemed to see things or qualities in them. They saw a star, or lead, or a spider, a fig, a wound, or named the herb which grew in the sand from that fact, etc. The plain people had a name for | everything, no matter what the bota- nists called them in the pride of in- tellectuality. They called one Bear's Breeches, another the Monkshood, & third Bugle. Anemones they cailed Windflowers, and Asclepias the Butter- fly Weed. For Asphodelus, or Asphodel, they coined King's Spear. They knew Convallaria better as Lily of the Valley, and o do we. What a pleasure it is, while sleet is coming down outside, to open the seeds- men's gay catalogues, and revel in a renewed acquaintance with these old friends! It is easy to understand the enthusiasm of the man who carried his copy. to office. There is something clean, and sweet, and decent about the grow- ing things of field and garden, clean as'the 'wind is clean, sweet as the open certain number of years. Well, why not? If there are patents: on' other air is sweet, decent as the trees, the shrubs, the roses and the violets. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. President Hoover’s mailbag this week, and especially his. press = clippings. should cause him to grin from ear to ear, if he were given to regiktering | that particular kind ‘of emotfon. They | are the result of his most recent fisti- | cuffs with the Senate. ‘The ‘chorus | of approval of the spanking to which Mr. Hoover subjected the Upper Houee on the Power Commission episode is loud, almost universal and kpows no geographical limitations, ~Callers at the | White House this week are echoing it. | ‘Through the song of actldim, like the leitmotif of a musical theme, runs one | pretty general note’ 'If is the hope | that, having once again rolled up his sleeves in combat with’the’ Senate, ' the | President will keep them rolled up. Washington politicians are watching with lively interest to see if the Cali- (orn'i;n {emih‘,s onl the Tl{lmg,vel or, as the language of p m puts it, “pulls his punches.”’ Bath pro-Hoover and anti-Hoover authorities are in fair | agreement that the Chiel's best bet, ‘twixt now and 32, is to force the fighting all along the line. * % ¥ x Some administration well wishers are so persuaded that in systematic bel- igerency lies the President's surest salvation that they think it would be shrewd politics to manufacture oppor- tunities for exhibiting it. Current events are proving afresh that Nick Longworth’s and Jack Tilson’s branch of Congress is tHe house of Hoover's friends. Instead of obstructing such legislation as the $3,000,000,000 soldiers’ bonus-certificate scheme or Govern- ment operation of Muscle Shoals, why wouldn't it be a bright idea—certain | Machiavellian strategists suggest—for the House to pass those bills and give the President a chance to barge inta them with his veto ax? The danger of their enactment over a veto would be remote. The country, it's argued, would applaud Hoover's action and his pres- tige would be correspondingly enhanced. There is at this broadcasting no known plan to carry out such a program. But | little birds are whispering it. * ok x One of Uncle Sam'’s ablest seamen in the foreign service is in Washington on leave, for the first time in nearly four years. He's Edwin L. Neville, counselor of the American embassy in Japan. Neville is completing 23 years of activ- ity in the international fleld, most of which has been in the Far East, wn | which he ranks as a class A authority. Since 1907 he has held with distinction & dozen different posts in the consular and diplomatic branches all over Japan, Korea and China. Neville speaks Japa- nese fluently. He seen several American Ambassadors come and go at Tokio since he himself went there in 1925. During the interregnum between Messrs. MacVeagh and Forbes, in 1930, Neville was charge d'affaires in Japan, and conducted for the United States the delicate preliminaries leading up to the London Naval Conference. * x x Printer's ink has certainly been doing its bit for farm relief. Public Printer George H. Carter’s annual report, just submitted to Congress, shows that the Department of Agriculture was far the lead, among the Government Print- ing Office’s customers, in number of publications turned out. Secretary Hyde’s branch of the administration accounts for no fewer than 36,734,846 of the total number of documents that rolled off the G. P. O. presses duri the fiscal year ended June 30, 1930. ‘That was nearly 50 per cent of the en- tire output. The War and Commerce Departments came next, with 10,000,000~ odd apiece. Secretary Lamont’s people spent the most money with Mr. Carter— $2,572,597. In previous years, Congress and the Post Office Department were vearly rivals for first place in th: amount of Government printing ordered. The wrong kind of furniture, an|Mr. Carter on April 5 will complete a expert says, produces tiredn-ss frritability. d record of 10 years as Government Naturally, this sets us to printer, a longer consecutive period than ‘those predecessors. any of:his 10 | Democrat of Texas, was in Tennessee | recently on a mission of investigation abput a Federal judgeship, undertaken on behalf of the House Judiciary Com- mittee. He ran across a yarn down there about a country justice of the peace which Sumrers is spinning with gusto in the House cloak rooms. “Seems as if the old fellow listened in on a Su- preme Court session at Washington not long ago,” narrates Sumners, “just when the Chief Justice was announcing, ‘The court will take this point under advise- ment.’. The Tennesseean thought that was a right smart saying and decided )to soring it himself on some suitable occasion. It wasn't long afterward be- fore he pulled this one from his own | bench: “The eourt will take this mat- ter under advisement, and fine the de- fendant $25 and costs.’” % Two of the United States Senators their names on March 4 intend to re- main residents of ‘Washington—Gillett of Massachusetts and Goff of West Virginia. Both they and their respective wives have been identified with Capital life so long that they admit they couldn't bring themselves to pull up stakes. Counting service in both House and Senate, Mr. Gillett has been a Washingtonian for roundly 40 years. Mrs. Gillett, who was the widow of the late Representative Rockwood Hoar of Massachusetts, also looks back upon a considerable sojourn in the National Capital. Senator and Mrs. Goff have been Washingtonians for more than 15 years, * Kk K % Attorney General Mitchell, who hails from Minnesota, has a knotty judiciary appointment problem on his hands, which concerns his own immediate baili- wick in the Northwest. A new Federal Jjudgeship has to be filled in the Gopher land. It's the turn of Senator Schall, Republican, , to , claim this particular piece of patronage. Schall wants the place for a lawyer who is personally and politically elose to him. The barrister in question, it appears, is identified with a certain species of law practice which, while unqualifiedly respectable, does not command the universal enthusiasm of the bar. The Attorney General has so far withheld his approval of Senator Schall’s nominee and the blind states- man from Minneapolis, himself a law- yer, refuses to recommend anybody else, (Copyright, 1931.) E r—e— Burma’s Independence. | Prom the Oakland Tribune. Burma, which “geographically, racial- ly, socially and economically is a nation apart,” has achieved its independence of India. At least at the recent Congress of Indian Affairs it was promised a separate government and is now peti- tioning for dominion status under a constitution. ‘There is to be a new “Road to Man. dalay” and new conditions which have come up, even as did the dawn, “like thunder.” Geopraphically, Burma is in- dependent. It is a little niche by itself surrounded by almost impassable moun- tains and jungles and with the Bay of Bengal on the south. Yet, says the National Geographic Society, Burma's greatest divergence from India, and the main reason for its divorce from the empire, lies in the economic field. In- dia, with industrial ambitions, has re- cently set up tariff walls which, figures show, have helped her infant indus- tries, especially the textile and steel mills, Burma, interested in agriculture, mining and forestry, and with little or no manufacturing, was taxed heavily for its manufactured goods as part of Indla, without deriving any benefit from the arrangement. It was this | tinsy balence of trade that brought the |acparation project toap head, Representative Hatton W. Sumners, | who will be entitled to write “ex” after | Amendment Legality Question for Majority To the Editor of The Star: Referring to the various legalistic ef- forts to question the validity of the eighteenth amendment, there can be| little doubt that their purpose is not to be found in & hope of actual invalida- tion through court decision, but rather in the maintenance of a minority senti- | ment of resistance to the law in the hope of interfering with its enforce- ment. However, if one begs the whole question at issue by assuming that precedent and tradition are the only valid and safe guides in the develop- mrent of democracy, many of these con- tentions cannot be gainsaid. Such a basis of contention, moreover, un- doubtedly appeals to the mass of the legal profession, for obviously that is the side upon which its bread is but- tered—the sine qua non of its daily routine. But suppose that the tenth amend- ment (legalistic interpretation) rather than the eighteenth is found ill-suited to modern conditions in its bearing on the doctrine of dual sovereignty. On just what fundamental principles of democracy can it be contended that the obvious infringement of the later con- stitutional amendment upon the ap: plicability of the earlier provision ren- ders the later one invalid? Did we fossilize ourselves when we got through with the first 10 amendments? Did Thomas Jefferson hold that con- stitutional changes must be unanimous when he wrote: “When any one State in the American Union refuses obedi- ence to the confederation to which they have joined themselves, the rest have the natural right to compel it to do obedience”? He did not even hold that the disciplinary right need be consid- ered constitutional, but rather that it is natural. Why argue, then, about con- stitutional precedents in issues wherein truly fundamental, extraconstitutional principles are involved? Does the rule of the majority maintain its validity because it is & constitutional right or because it is @ natural concomitant of democracy—its own justification as a means of keeping the peace and making possible the organization of modern so- clety? Judge Clark’s recent opinion ex- presses, it seems pretty generally agreed, not what our Constitution is, but rather a feeling that it ought to be what it is not. Perhaps he is right; but this is a question, not for the courts and the legal profession, but for the people to decide through the representative sys- tem the Constitution sets up. After all, a constitution has no validity of its own. The tenth amendment, it would seem, fully recognizes, in its reservation of residual powers “to the people,” that as against the will of the peopls to change it, the Constitution is but a scrap of paper. Obviously a people could hardly limit themselves in what they may do to their wn government. The point is that they must do it (not the courts) and do it systematically, if government, of, by and for ‘the people is to be maintained. The people of one generation cannot define the wisdom of another, certainly not as to the relation of geography to government. “Local,” as applied to government, is a wholly relative term, whose significance is dependent entire- ly upon circumstances; and the legalis- tic fiction of immutability in the geog- raphy of sovereignty is a dangerous, essentially an anarchistic, doctrine, As conditions change the scope of govern- ment must also change. What, after all, is so sacred or essential about the geography of a State line that it should become a fetish any more than a coun- ty_line? It is new conditions, not old theories, which confront us in the problems of this day and age of science and ma- chinery; and since Judge Clark’s opin- ion raises the question of the advisa- | bility of a national constitutional con- | vention to'deal with these problems, specifically with the tenth amendment, the writer would like to revive, through the columns of The Star, the sugges- tion made by David J, Lewis in his re- cent successful congressional campaign in Western: Maryland- for such a con- vention. It is a far saner undertaking than any of the unwise propaganda be- ing so generally offered, as to National or State referenda. It is representa- tion, not referenda, that makes demoe- | racy feasible. There is something sinister in the |turn from legitimate argument to po- | litical coercion in the North and ca- jolery in the South in the effort to build up a “popular” majority opposed to nrational liquor control. In the | North it takes the form of the drawing of false analogies with the struggles of \ the Revolution and the Rebellion. Such | & ruse is developed in the attempt to establish the right of a bare majority in a single State to upset the control of conditions nationally by flooding itself and vicinity with liquor—for obviously, | not even the system of control at the Canadian border could be duplicated in the control of interstate traffic. That theory got a much longer trial than na- tional prohibition has had, involving the Wilson and Webb-Kenyon acts and culminating in the Reed bone dry law— all tried under conditions much more fayorable for control of interstate traf- | | fid than those of today. The:situation is, indeed, a threat of return to a na- tional policy of protection for the liquor | traffic “through the confusion of juris- | diction brought about by that obsession known as the doctrine’ of dual sov- ereignty. Such a policy closely parallels the protection of the slave trade by the fugitive slave laws—an attempt to place ;?ommercxa.l “rights” above human wel- \ fare. In the South the effort has been to alienate Southern thought *from its honest convictions by dragging in whollr irrelevant and imaginary issues which play on the hatreds arising from | | the conflict over slavery. In the cam- paign of 1928 this took the form of reading a prejudicial review of the Civil War into the Congressional Record for distribution under frank. Its latest de- velopment imagines a national interdict aguinst State laws controlling miscege- nation, If, however, such laws are, in- deed, essential to racial and Social in- tegrity, is it to be supposed that a sin- under modern conditions, solely by vir- tue of its own laws? And is there a citizen' who would be so bold and reck- less as to assert that three-fourths of the States could not, by ratifying an amendment to the Federal Constitution, take from the individual American his personal liberty to marry whom he pleases? Why, then, if the Southern States also consider that restriction of the individual in his personal liberty to drink what he pleases is vital to the social integrity and civilization of the Nation—why undertake to assert that a bare majority in a single State can pre- vent the whole Nation from passing such a law? Or when the Nation de- sires to establish humane labor condi tions throughout the land, shall a sin- gle State be permitted to undertake to reman an asylum for the exploitation of child labor? ‘The history of the development of our own Constitution is certainly not one of the maintenance of any such theories. ALDEN A. POTTER. L e No Quibbling. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In estimating that the sun is two quintillion miles from the center of the Milky Way, an astronomer states that the figure is approximate. It is a good way to forestall hairsplitting. —— e Their First. Love. From the Dayton Daily News. Some one has remarked that the aviators and scientists are now the he- roes of American boys, but we notice a good many of the kids still looking gle State could maintain such integrity ful ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY'FREDERIC What do you need to know? 1Is there some point about your business or per- sonal lifs that puzzles you? Is there something you want to know without delay? Submit your question to_Fred- eric J. Haskin, director of our Wash- ington Information Bureau. He is em: ployed to help you. Address your in- quiry to The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, ‘Washington, D. C, and inclose 2 cents in coin or stamps for return postage. Q. How tall are Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer, and what do they weigh?—J. O. A. Joan Crawford is 5 feet 4 inches in height and weighs 110 pounds. Norma Shearer is 5 feet 5 inches and weighs 110 pounds. = does “Oberammergau” ame of a river; | e, means ‘“‘uppe “gau” means | “district.” “Upper district of the Ammer River” is a translation of the name. Q. Which is correct—"“You can buy | it cheaper” or “You can buy it more cheaply”?—F. C. A. The construction requires the use | of the adverb; therefore it should be “more cheaply.” Q. Who made the first steel plows| in this country?—C. M. B. A. About 1797 John Newbold demon- strated a cast-iron plow. It was similar to cast-iron plows which had been dem- onstrated shortly before in England. Records indicate that farmers feared detrimental effects from so much iron in contact with the soil, and evidently this first American cast-iron plow was never repaired after its moldboard be- came broken. The obstinate quality of the soil in the Mississippi Valley led to the use of steel instead of iron strips on the moldboards of plows. John 1837, and William Parlin, 1842, oneers in (he steel plow busi- of the Middle West, Much credit is due also to James Oliver, who, be- ginning his experiments in 1853, greatly advanced the process for chilling cast- iron plow points. Q. What is the difference between a bondholder and a stockholder?—D. K. A. The primary distinction between a bondholder and a stockholder is that the former is a creditor and the latter | a part owner. This is a general dis- tinction only, and does not take into account_the various finer legal distinc- tions. The bondholder lends his money to the company, and is promised in- terest at a sutfid ul;ou’nt.]l-! '("L” repayment of the principal sum at a lu‘t’\’re date. The stockholder, on the other hand, has a certain undivided share in the property of the company, the right to participate in profits, and generally voting privileges. Q. How far from the North Pole is Polaris, the North Star?>—F. G. A. Polaris is but little more than 1 degree from the North Celestial Pole, around which it appears to revolve once in 24 hours. > ) Q. Did the United States redeem Continental currency?—E. R. B. A. The various issues of Continental currency were never redeemable by the United States as reorganized under the Constitution. By the act of August 4, 1790, it was redeemable by the Treas- ury in subScription to a loan at the rate of $100 in Continental money for $1 in specie. By the act of March. 3, 1797, it was declared that said money shculd be receivable as above until De- cember 31, 1797, and no longer. Q. Where are the offices of the J. HASKIN. bt birth of George Washington located?— PR 3 A. The commission a suite of about 20 rooms on the floor of the Washington Building, Pifteenth street and New York avenue northwest, ’ashington, personnel W, num- bers about Q. Was Robert Dollar of the steam- ::hlv cr}:{mpfiny born in this country?— . Al ¥ A. Robert Dollar was born at Fal- kirk, Scctland, on March 20, 1844. He N C. |became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1888, having come to this country in 1856 from where he spent most of his boyhood. Q. Please give directions for the care of a monkey—W. G. A. Monkeys are natives of warm climates and cannot endure low tem- peratures; therefore they should be pro- vided with heated quarters, at t during cold weather. If the animal is to be confined continually, the cage should not be less 4 feet in each dimension. The cage should be entirely tight, with only the front wired, thus | preventing draughts, which are fatal to these animals. Oftentimes they are troubled with external pars , and therefore should be bathed at intervals with creolin. Insect powders are found to be effective. The following is pre- scribed as a diet: Vegetables, raw or cooked: boiled rice; ripe fruit, bananas, cranges, sweet apples: stale bread: oc- occasionally a bit of well cooked chicken: fresh mflk, to which a raw egg has been added; water should be provided at all times. Q. Why was Shakespeare's play given the name “As You Like It"?—D. R. A. Various commentators have ad- vanced different theories as to the name. Braithwait, however, in his “Barnaby's Journal,” spegks of “As-You Like It” as a proverbial motto, and this | secms more likely to imply the true | explanation of the title of Shakespeare's | play. The title of the comedy may on this ‘supposition be exactly parallel With that of “Much Ado About Nothing. The proverbial title of the play im the freedom of thought and indiffer- ence to censure which characterize the sayings and doings of most of the actors in this comedy of human nature in & forest, . How many of the patentees of (heq Charter came to Virginia with the first expedition?—G. T. A. Only one—Wingfield. Q. Is there a national cemetery in | Sitka, Alaska?—C. R. A. There is a national cemetery in Sitka. There have been 70 interments there. . What 1s_the annual cost of con- du?ung the Naval Academy at An- | napolis>—C. G. A. The annual cost to the Govern- ment of conducting the Naval Acad at Annapolis, Md., is a little w $2,000,000. For instance, in 1928 the cos: was $1,849,327.26, and in 1929 the cost was $1.925300.43. It costs ap- | proximately $11,000 to $12,000 to grad- uate a midshipman from the Naval Academy. At the present time there are enrolled at the Naval Academy 2,044 students. Q. What does the name of the city Addis_Ababa mean?—N. B. A. It means “new flower. Q. What was the first manufactured product exported from this country?— C. P. John Smith = sent from United States Commission for the cele- bration of the 200th anniversary of the ‘The radio address of Premier Musso- lini of Italy to the people of the United States was apparently listened to with attention, and in general approval, especially to the part dealing with Italy's aspirations for peace. “Premier Mussolini presented the world ‘with a real gift in his radio declaration that Italy never will take there is no apparent reason to believe he did not” says the Charleston (8. C.) Evening Post, which suggests that “perhaps the world can hope that it is a good harbinger, and that one of the many improvements of 1931 wlil be a change in the atmosphere of Euro- pean affairs conducive to the continu- pictures Mussolini as having thrown aside “much of the austerity and brusqueness of manner which one com- monly associates with him when he appears before the public,” and finds “running all through his address a warmth and geniality quite alien to his usual temperament when addressing either his own peoble or those in for- eign countries. His complimentary references to the United States are warmly reciprocated,” the Journal. “As a matter of fact, there was a spirit of friendliness in his talk, and on no occasion since he took over the reins of government of Italy has Musso- lini exhibited a more reasonable and sensible attitude toward world peace,” declares the Lynchburg Advance. That the desire of the Italian people for peace is shared by all the peoples of the world is the opinion voiced by the Madison W’<consin' State Journal when it says: “The great nations of the world are not today thinking or talking as far as their mass citizenship is concerned in words or terms of war. The people are thoroughly aware that their best interests lie in peace.” * % % x “It is a subiued Mussolini” that speaks, says the Louisville Courier- Journal, which suggests that “perhaps the depression and France’s obstinacy hnlv'e helped to make Mussolini peace- “The address was unusual, in that it differed so materially from the bom- bastic type which, the Premier appar- ently feels, is necessary to stimulate greater activity in the Fascist cause or to divert popular thought from a bad economic situation at home to patriotic exaltation over possible foreign expan- sion,” notes the Indianapolis Star, which rates the broadcast as having “set a high standard for the start of the year. It was a forerunner of other treats of international broadcasting which will break down the barriers of distance and alien customs,” predicts this paper. “Mussolini has made an admirable bid for American friendship. Rightly, he has made it direct to the people rather than through the avenues of secret diplomacy,” remarks the Cleve- land News, which, continuing, says: “His voice over the radio does not seem like that of the thunderer, defying the world. It is the voice of a modern statesman, employing modern and friendly means of attempting to gain the confidence and allay the prejudices of his neighbors.” As the St. Louis ‘Times describes the event: “Benito Mussolini’s message came in a setting of charm. The atmosphere was per- fect. It was the breath of the cam- pagna, the spirit of old art, the force of a new nation—all in a crowded half hour that was a triumph for interna- tional science. There was something about the message that came to us from the Italian capital that was not short of inspirational.” * ok kK “The' world is reminded once -again that when Mussolini takes the speaker’s over the sport pages. —ate In the Divorce Bill. From the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, Under reduced plane fares it now costs but $211.60 to fly to Reno, and the court will probably order & refund n faing the almony, b latform he can be one of two persons— e can be the belliger it Fas- cist who deligl peace and stability the offensive in starting another war, | to provided he meant what he said, and ance of peace.” The Providence Journal | b Mussolini Inspires Visim;s =14 Of More Harmoniqngorld consumption, trifle mere easily, The cmflem;? the saber and has branch.” Vi Hozevt:r, Il Duce ferentiation between - tion and consumption abroad. the M%‘wlge ernlldo. ':‘: e sen peace dove, he pulls the tail feathers of the content America in Italy of the stat L ing eagle.” And in support t this er declares that *“I men pap words, heard by radio in tho American_homes, were not even pub- lished in Italy,” the Italians being given “a different address by their Premier, an address demanding revision of peace treaties and insisting on increased armaments to resist the ‘military hege- mony’ of Prance.” ‘The Kansas City Star, re that Mussclini a few months ago said “Although words are beautiful things, rifies, machine guns, ships, airplanes and cannons are still more beautiful things,” thinks it “may well be asked which sentiment the true Mussolini. Is he urging peace or war? The Baltimore Sun also says: “Cynics and right thinkers are left to their end- less debate as to Il Duce’s motives. Was he making amends for his recent biting of the hand that feeds him or has he been converted by the writings of Foster and Catchings? In light of his histri- onic past, the public will be forgiven if it requires two or three further dem. onstrations before giving up the sus- picion that the Mussolini dove of is a carrier pigeon flying in the o~ tion of the banking district.” The Hartford Daily Times reasons that “he is not beyond the influence of the non- Fascist world, and the more funda- mentally he makes his peace with it the longer will Fascism, thus modified. endure.” Thanks Are Extended To Christmas Donors ‘To the Editor of The Star: ‘The undersigned and the members of the Washington police Christmas tree party wish to thank every one who sent donations for the Christmas tree party which was held at the No. 5 police sta= tion. in Washington. We also want to thank all who helped in any other way to make this party such a huge success. On Christmas eve, December 24, 1930, the boys of the Police Department Christmas tree party distributed 1,238 baskets to the real poor of Washington, On Christmas morning we had the pleasure of entertaining at No. 5 police station 5,745 children and givi them toys, clothing, E‘ii"b candy, ew.y mm. was made poss y our man generously giving foodstuffs, clothing, toys and their personal services. Especial thanks are extended to Miss Peggy Clark of the WOL Broadcasting Station, to our good friends of other broadcasting stations, and to The Star, all of whom were of great assistance in making the party successful. It is regretted that we cannot write to ‘each person, ex\end.\&’! thanks hk'_ the help in carrying on good worl but we feel sure that all will understand the eciation of the members of the Wi mee Christmas tree pnn.yn ‘With greef for the new year to our friends, I beg to remain JOHN M. WALSH, Captain, Metropolitan Police, Precinct No. 5. Science and Verse, Prom the Dayton Dally News. Dean Inge wants scientists to phrase chose to assume the their discoveries in poetry, en might they just as well as-not’ many ‘per- -ayhow,