Evening Star Newspaper, February 4, 1931, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. .February 4, 1031 [EODORE W. NOYES....Editor ‘The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office. 11th 8t. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. hicago Office) Lake Michigan Building. uropean Office’ 14 RE:HH M., London, England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. e Evening Star...l.........45c per month e Evening and Sunday ‘Siar undays) . ..60c per month (when 4 ¥5) . The Evening and Sunda Cwh undays) ... 65¢ per month it Sc. Orders may be sent in by mail or telephone NAtional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. ajly and Sunday.....1yr.$10.00: 1 mo., 85c | ily only 135156000 1 m junday only 11171715 34:00; 1 mo. 40c All Other States and Canada. Euy and Sunda. yr.. $12.00: 1 mo.. $1.00 aily oniy o = | '58.00: 1 mo., ~ 73¢ nday only ! $5.00; 1mo., 50c Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news di atches credited (0 it or not otherwise cred- ted in this paper and also the locel news published herein. Al rights of publication of special dispatches h = - erein are also reserved. A Way Out. President Hoover stated yesterday to the country and to the Congress that if at any time the Red Cross, cther voluntary charitable organizations and State and local governments should Pprove unable to meet the task of caring for the destitute in this country' he would call upon Congress for aid from the Federal Government. The Presi- dent, however, did not weaken in his demand that the American pesple be given an opportunity to handle the present emergency due to the drought | &nd unemployment. He did not weak- | #0 in his insistence that to have the Federal Government undertake to feed the people would be a blow at volun- | tary charity, as represented by the Red Cross, and in the end a blow at the Government itself. He did call upon those members of the Senate and the House who have been insistent upon a Federal appropriation to feed the peo- ple to stand aside and let the people take care of their own, as they have done in the past. ‘The willingness of the President to pledge himself to ask aid of the Fed- eral Goverament to feed starving Americans if the need arises brought into the Senate debate yesterday a| decidedly more conciliatory tone. Sen- | stor Pat Harrison of Mississippi, for example, called for a solution of the controversy which has arisen between the Senate on one side and the Presi- dent and the House on the other. Reading from the President's statement the Mississippi Senator pointed to the fact that the Chief Executive said he did not wish to add acrimony to the discussion, and that he credited to those who wished Federal aid for the peopls of their States a “natural #nxiety.” He expressed full confidence that the President would carry out his pledge to call on Congress for Federal aid to feed the starving if it became mecessary. And finally, the Mississippi | Senator insisted that he thought a way | can be found and ought to be found to #clarify the situation and bring about ‘Some common understanding.” Later still in the debate, Senator Couzens of Michigan asked Senator Robinson, the Democratic leader and author of the proposed $25,000,000 ap- propriation to supply food to the dis- fressed throughout the country, whether if the plan to appropriate $15,000,000 to Joan to the distressed for the purchase of food originally advanced in the Sen- @te were agreed to, he, Senator Robin- son, would be satisfied. The Arkansas Benator replied that from the first he had declared the people in the drought Stricken area would prefer loans to charity from the Federal Government. He added, however, that he would re- serve his judgment on the suggestion ©f Senator Couzens “until some one makes a proposal that there is oppor- tunity to carry out.” He added that if ‘the original loan proposal had been earried outy the present controversy, Would not have arisen in all probability. The spirlt of conciliation, which ap- parently has beep advanced by the President and in a measure also by his Benate opponents, needs encouragzment. | There seems little to result by the main- tenance of the deadlock, except the hampering of voluntary charity and a denial of Federal aid. The President’s proposal that the American people be permitted to finish the job of relief which they have undertaken, and that 4f it be demonstrated that the job can- not be adequately done through volun- tary aid, then the resources of the Fed- | eral Government be called on, is sane enough. The acrimony which has @risen, the bitter things which have been said in Senate and House have only served to arouse ill-fecling out in the country as well as in the halls of | Congress. Unless the Congress is en-! tirely impotent except for the utterance ©of words, there must be a w: Relief of human distress is discussed ®#s a duty. It is also a means of pro- tection to the feelings of honest sym- pathy. No person of normal sentiment can be happy knowing that he is sur- Founded by grief and misfortune. - This Trembling Earth. 1 With several hundred known dead and | more than one thousand injured, the carthquake which has shaken New| Zealand takes rank among the major seismographic disturbances of our time. Material loss will run into millions of pound sterling, and economic develop- ment in that particular section of Britain's great “down under” territory suffers a correspondingly heavy set- back. Coming at a moment when all Australasia is heavily hit by business depression, the New Zealand quake takes on additional severity. Compared to the Japanese earth- quake of 1923 and to the Italian tem- ~blor of 1930, this upheaval in the South | Beas is relatively minor, though, measur- gd by New Zealand's small population, 3t has all the dimensions of a grave disaster. Mankind scemingly must yeckon on earthquakes as part and reel of its existence. All over the world within recent times there have been ghocks of, varying degrees of intensity. | an | prices, | pleted her ambitious industrial program, | | hour, five miles an hour faster than that Mount Shasta and many other vol- canoes in our Northwest are not ex- tinct in the popular sense of the term and that there are eighteen volcanoes along the Cascade fault in Oregon, while many more gxtend north into the State of Washington and British Columbia, A study of seismographic records is being made by American and other scientists, in the hope that data gathered as to the propagation of tre- mors may throw new light upon the internal condition of the earth. Dr. Benjamin Boss of Dudley Observ- atory at Albany, N. Y. subscribes to the theory that earthquakes may be caused by the cosmic rays discovered by Dr. R. A. Millikan. Be that as 1t may, late events on the nether side of the globe are proving afresh that Mother Earth is a very unstable old lady. — et Russian Trade in Manchuria. Information lately received from Manchuria indicates that the Soviet| government of Russia is making a strong bid for trade in that region that if successful will seriously affect Amer- ican, Japanese and other exporters who have been finding a market in the ‘three eastern provinces” of China. The Manchurian market, however, is not the only one affected, for if the Rus- sian drive for trade there succeeds and if the five-year program is carried through satisfactorily, China proper will be the next ficld of operations, to the very serious depletion of the mar- ket to other nations. In the past few months it appears there has been a decided increase in the quantity and variety of Soviet goods in Manchuria through newly established commercial agencies. These are almost cheap w but good for their! It is believed that if the pres nt situation in Manchuria furnishes an mple of what Soviet Russia may be able to do when she shall have com- the foreign merchants in Manchuria are likely to find themselves in the most seri- ous competition they have yet encoun- tered. For example, Soviet oil, which heretofore has been selling a few cents lower than American and British prices, is to be cut considerably below through a reduction of freight rates on the Chinese Eastern Railway, which the Russians practically control. Manchuria is a cheap market, for the buying power of the people is low,{., and the cheap goods of Russia make a strong bid. These goods are produced at starvation wages in Russia, and yet the Soviet reply to the charge of “dump- ing"” in Manchuria is that the goods are actually being sold at a profit. And here comes the strange fact that the Soviet goods which are being sold now cheaply in Manchuria sell at much higher prices | in Russia and Siberia. In fact, many of the goods of this class cannot be bought at all in Soviet Russia. Russians arriving from European Russia find in Harbin, for example, goods which they are not able to buy at home or in Vlad- ivostok. It is related that smuggling activity has increased along the Sibe- rian-Manchurian border, where Russian goods which have been legally exported to Manchuria on payment of a small regular import duty are beifg smug- gled back into Soviet Russia, where they bring much higher prices than those for which they can be legally bought in Manchuria. This is a picture which should be studied thoughtfully by those who do not regard with seriousness the menace of Russian goods produced by slave THE EVENING .STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C, speed on land, water and in the -lr.} and by dint of vigorous effort and de- termination England has acquired all three championships. The comparison is not at all comforting to Americans. On land, she holds the record at two hundred and thirty-one miles an hour, and, not satisfied with .that, Capt. Malcolm Campbell is trying to push is still farther upward at Daytona Beach. America’s best is two hundred and seven miles an hour. On the water, she holds the mark at ninety- eight miles an hour. The fastest boat in the United States has done ninety- three. It is in the air, however, that the greatest difference exists, three hundred and fifty-seven miles an hour against two hundred and sixty-six. Certainly there is not much in these figures to stir American national pride and it is a disheartening fact that we are falling farther back every year. Lost ‘laurels are hard to regain and it behooves Arccrica to get busy before it is too Iate. L] ] ¥ Parliamentary Amenities. Members of the House of Repre- sentatives yesterday learned anew through a ruling by the Speaker that under Jefferson’s Manual, which is the guiding code of House procedure, they cannot without breach of order in debate “notice what has been said on the same subject in the other house.” Th: matter was brought to point through an inquiry from Representa- tive Treadway, who wanted to take ex- ceptions to certain remarks made in the Senate regarding him, the Speaker rul- ing that although the Senate has not adopted Jefferson’s Manual for guid- ance, the House has done so, and as long as that manual prevails members of the House may not “reply” and call members of the other branch by name. But this did not deter Representa- tive Cramton from meeting with ¢ plicit statement certain derogatory marks concerning him in the branch.” He named no names, but Te- | ther | specification was not nacessary, for the Congressional Record tells the story | He said that he had been “most unfairly attacked” on two occa- sions “in another legislative body,” and “with a contemptible disregard of the truth and the facts.” clusion, outlining the allegation made Then, in con- in the “other branch,” he said that “anybody who says this is a plain, unadulterated liar.” Whereat, accord- ing to the Record, there was “prolonged applause, the members rising.” Nobody rose effectively to object to this language by the member from Michigan, and it stands in the Record, |Jefferson’s Manual perhaps to the con- trary notwithstanding. from this incident that the Jeffersonian code is not a complete estoppel of free expression by members of the House of Representatives regarding their sen- atorial critics so long as they “name no names.” It would seem —r—————— ‘The quarrel between the motion pic- ture star and the secretary accused of pilfering has brought a request to the court by the forgiving artist and the incident will doubtless be taken out of the publicity department and regarded as closed. ] A devastating earthquake in New Zealand will command sympathy and help, if needed, from the pedple of this country. Such effort will incidentally convey a wholesome reminder that our own neighbors are requiring assistance. labor or by miserably paid free labor- if labor can be said to be free in thmat state—competing in the world markets. If the five-year program now under way of development succeeds, the sit- uation that exists in Manchuria may extend throughout the range of inter- national trade, unless barriers are erect- ed. It is reported that, anxious as they are over the present situation in Man- churia, foreign importers and traders there are drawing some comfort from the belief that Russian workmen and producers of raw materials will not be willing to continue forever to live in virtual serfdom and that the, time is likely to come, perhaps soon, when the | discontent of the Russian masses will | either overthrow the Soviet government | or force it to allow much higher stand- ards of living than are now obtaining, in which case the Soviet goods will not | furnish such dangerous competition. ———————— ‘When the announcement is made by Mussolini that an incident is closed, there is no doubt about the matter, so far as Italy is concerned. In this country the investigation inclination is 50 strong that closing an incident is one of the most difficult of under- takings. ——————— Air, Land and Water Speed. Announcement that Kaye Don, noted British automobile racing driver, will compete in the next Harmesworth Trophy speed boat event on the Detroit River s an interesfing titbit for boating fans in all sections of the country. And probably more interesting even than this famous driver's participation is the fact that he is taking the place| left vacant by the late Sir Henry | Scgrave and will use the Miss Eng- land II, the boat In which Sir Henry achieved his lifelong ambition of add- ing the water-speed record to his land- speed record a few hours before he was fatally injured, when the craft struck a submerged log on Lake Windemere, England. On the trial before the accident, Sir Henry had attained the unprecedented peed of more than ninety-eight miles an veteran of racing, Gar Wood, almost perennial holder cf the Harmesworth Trophy, had ever been able to get out of any of his nine-Miss Americas. Since the Miss England II was taken out of the water and rebuilt, Don is credited with even greater speed, and on a recent test is said to have pushed the boat up to one hundred and ten miles an hour. If Don carries out his determination to bring Miss England II to this coun- try this year's Harmesworth race will have an international flavor that it was not expected to have in view of Miss Barbara Carstairs’ retirement from ! competition. ~ Miss ‘Carstairs, doughty British sportsworfan, spent more thar a half a million dollars in seeking to wrest the trophy from Gar Wood, and * TThirty-six ‘quakes shook the Island of 8 in less than twn honre New ngland and the Maritime Provinces Canada quivered as the result of a ne earthquake. Jagzar of the Uni Survey testifies ———e— Communists make fervid speeches about future intentions, but can point to no page in history that will give them credit for benefit to humanity in the past. ———————— Neither well fed nor well clad, all sufficiently to permit & hook-up of | cause and effect: Mr. Cramton minced i for the foot ball field or the alr, as an no words. that Gandhi appears to ask as a reward of his endeavors Is the peculiar joy that often attaches to being an uncom- promising fanatic. e SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Good Intentions. _ 7~ Perhaps, in a mysterious place. That we can reach some day, The good intentions we may trace That somehow went astray, And, like the shepherd with his sheep, We'll show & pathway plain; Our good intentions we will keep And bring them home again. Perhaps out there where stars are bright Our good intentions wait, And we at last may see them right, Amid rejoicing great. They say infernal depths are paved ‘With purposes once fair, But let us hope they have been saved For us Scmewhere, Up There. ‘Word of Determination. “Your adversaries say that in spite of your service you are only a begin- ner in the new politics.” “All right,” answered Senator Sor- ghum. “They may refer to me as a beginner. But theyll never have a chance to call me a quitter.” Jud Tunkins says all business needs now is a high-power purchaser to match up with every high-power salesman. A Sad Old Story. Mistakes are often made, we know. The record long must leave us sad, For history will too often show Experiments gone to the bad. Practical Test. “You think that magazine story is untruthful?” sald the editor. “I know it is,” answered the reckless reader. “Every one in it drinks cock- tails continuously. I selected a charac- ter and tried to take a drink as often as he was represented as doing so. I didn’t last through the third page.” “It is better to be lonely,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “than to be among those who find delight in con- versation that leads to quarreling.” If Congress Stays in Session. If statesmen agree that the program will be To stay and keep holding the fort, With compliment free we will hail this D. C. Jost, vear after her third failure. an- , nounced with a sigh of resignation: | “Well, 1t has been a lot of fun, but 1 cannot afford it any more.” It is quite evident that British na- tional pride demands supremacy in As a glorious Summer resort. “Never talk rough to a mule,” said ! Uncle Eben, * "cause mebbe he'll lift his hind feet an’ show you dat neum?spuk louder dan words.” WEDNESDAY, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Seeds and plants are not all there are to a catalogue. The department of garden tools and supplies holds much entertainment for a Winter's evening. Before delving into that section let us take off our collective hats, in a figurative sense, to the annual cata- logues themselves. Despite their altered covers, from year to year, these books change very little, but no devotee minds that in the least. The flower and vegetable “novelties” listed each season are for many the least interesting part of the catalogues. It is the old which intrigues, the ever-faithful flowers, vegetables, bushes, trees, the tried and true things which have been planted and loved these hundreds of years by countless thou- sands of human beings. No doubt it is this sequence of living men and women, this human chain, as it were, which unites gardening hearts, which gives every reader a sense of renewed vitality as he reads the catalogues by the firesice. Surely one needs a renewal, for Win- ter is a stuffy season, at best; not so much in a physical as in a mental sense. It is a dangerous season in every way, one which makes the gar- den-minded long for the first touch, be it ever so humble, of the authentic and bona fide fm;flns; > ‘The seed catalogue, undoubtedly, is this first touch. Christmas is scarcely over before it begins to arrive. It is a collective “it,” presenting many faces and names, but in every case it is simply an illustrated list of what the seed house has for sale. Yet it has for its devotees a great deal more than crass utilitarianism. While its utility is undisputed, it also brings to him the first real news of s[armg and renews in his heart and mind the joys of a more beautiful, a tenderer son, “The s Wdogue is one book which one may d over and owr These descriptions arc old, very old; there i8 scarcely a new word added; we have read it many times, but it is just s interesting now as it was the first time we read it many years ago. ‘The triumphs of this seedsman's big tomato, and this one’s famous sweet corn, and this other’s petunias and weet peas—these are perennially real. All the glory of earth is not reserved unsophisticated reader might sometimes think, as he peruses the spread of daily news which greets his eye. Yes, there have been quieter, less flamboyant triumphs, done without shouting or blare of trumpets, but which have brought fame and money, t0o, to their originators. This great tomato, with likeness in full color, and well enough done to make your mouth water, too, has been planted around the earth. These fluffy sweet peas have placed their dainty heads against the ms of thousands of sweet ladies, and felt themselves at home there. R It is over in the last section, how- ever—the section devoted to the listing of garden tools and implements—that o’ne finds matter for endless specula- tion. Here are the rakes, the hoes, the lawn- mowers, the fertilizers, the sprayers, the insecticides, the grubbers, the mulch ppers, the sprinklers, the devices to ure and entrap ants, the hundred and one gadgets of the garden. This “handy cultivator,” now, is something we have planned to purchase for the past six years. Every Winter, when the catalogue ocmes, we look longingly at the picture of the gentleman with the walrus mustache—walruses have fearful repu- tations for their mustaches—and we say to ourselves, “Yes, I must have one of those.” All during the Winter, the long Winter through, we revert to the pic- ture of the handy cultivator. We mentally conjure up pictures, more or less truthful, of ourself wielding the handy cultivator. Several times—and this happens each year, mind you—we get so far as to say audibly, “Yes, I am going to order one of these handy cultivators this year.” But then Spring comes, and with it the songs of various birds, mostly un- which makes it what it is, and we for- get all about the handy cultivator. The first thing we know, we find ourselves doing very well with the old rake, the old fork, the old trowel. ‘We decide that we do not need a handy cultivator, after all. It is a nice thing, and next year we will get one, surely, but this year we will get along with these old, reliable tools. * K kX ‘Well, this year we will get the culti- vator, and no mistake about it! It is down on the list. Secure it, we shall! It is a matter of_ principle now, not garden practice. enth successive season we have decided in favor of the handy cultivator, but it shall not be the seventh without action. It is down on the list and shortly our order for it will go forth. This Spring will see us- delving into the earth with a handy cultivator, we can assure the world and sundry. In the meantime let i purchases of several of the: ed steel lawnmowers. There never was much sense in the useful grass cutter being so heavy. ‘The influence of woman is being felt in the garden supplies department as well as in the automotive marts. When she cuts grass she wants to do it with- ;v‘m. stress and strain. Who can blame er? This fine implement s right across the page from the picture of the “Slim Jim” trowel, which is declared to be 50 fine for planting bulbs. And surely it would be a good instrument on gen- eral principles. ‘We must have one of those. year of resolve.) A special flower-cutting scissors is another long-time resolve. The trick of this pair of scissors is that after the flower stem is cut the scissors grab it and hold it, thus saving the gardener the severe task of grasping it with the left hand. Here is a soft rubber kneeling mat. Any one who has knelt in a garden, as one must often do, until his knees have felt the wear and tear, will be heart and soul in favor of kneeling mats, rubber or otherwise. Never slight the garden tools and implements section. It is a worthy adjunct of seeds, flowers, bulbs, and & ’:n. One cannot garden without revel in (Fourth WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. Senator Borah has vaulted back into the center of the Senate stage with his onslaught against the administra- tion's relief program. Throughout the present session of Congress the Idahoan has been largely -in eclipse. His brother Progressive. Senator Norris, seemed to be crowding “Big Bill” out of the limelight. Men said that Borah's semi-effacement was entirely of his own volition—that he is tired, in in- different health and beginning to re- alize that he is 66 years old. Well, the Boise statesman this week belied all suggestions that he is through. Not in years has the old-time Borah flamed forth so fervently or furiously as he did while lambasting White House op- position to the Senate's $25,000,000 food scheme. The foreign relations chair- man is always at his oratorical zenith when he addresses himself to what is known as a moral issue. That, and a constitutional question, unfailingly find his intellectual and vocal equipment giving a stellar account of itself. * ok ok ‘As crowded floor and galleries listened spellbound to Borah's arraign- ment of Hoover policies, it was difficult to realize that barely two years ago the Idahoan was electrifying the country with pro-Hoover campaign speeches. Nothing done on the stump in 1928 was of such immense advantage to the Californian’s candidacy as the radio addresses of William E. Borah | Here's a | and Charles E. Hughes. prophecy: If and when Herbert Hoover is running for re-election in 1932 on a platform which represents the dry end of the prohibition argument, “Bill” Borah will be out in front boosting him the same as in ’28. There may be other issues—power,relief, depression or whatnot. But if Herbert Hoover is carrying the prohibition banner, Borah will be found trailing close be- hind him and it. * K kK Joseph P. Cotton, Undersecretary of State, is reported to be making satis- factory progress after his recent sericus operation in a Baltimore hospital. The hospital authorities describe him as about the gamest man who ever sur- vived the knife. As soon as Secretary Stimson’s right-hand man had recov- ered consciousness, following his siege on the surgeon’s table, Cotton’s nurses were gently making him comfortable on his pillows. His first words, as he looked up at the Florence Nightingale in charge, were, amid a smile, “Don’t be s0 —— rough!” o ‘They say that a sailor can’t keep away from his ship. Evidently a diplomat can't either. Michael Wright, years a secretary at the British embassy in Washington and 2 dashing figure in the Capital's younger set, was .recently transferred to London for foreign office service. Everybody supposed he'd left for England. It turns out that he de- cided to go there by way of Far Eastern America, and Wright is now sojourning in the Philippines. At Manila he was able to establish contact with long-time Washington friends—Gov. Gen. Dwight F. Davis and his family. Mr. Wright was private secretary to Ambassador Sir Esme Howard in Washington and later third secretary of the embassy. * ok K X ‘When the Senate gets around to de- ciding—some sunny day—whether of not the United States should pull an oar in the World War boat, it'll have the advantage of a great and solemn referendum on the subject. The Ameri- can Peace Soclety, oldest of all such or- anizations in the Uni States, is can- vassing its distinguished membership to find out just where it stands on the court issue. Even among men and women addicted to peace the society suspects there may be a difference of opinion as to the wisdom of this coun- try accepting the Root formula in place of the Senate reservations of 1926. Under the active direction of its secre- tary, Arthur Deerin Call, the society is now polling its constitugnts. For their guidance they’ve been supplied with a pro-count argument by Prof. Jessup of Columbia University and an anti-court thesis by Senator Dill, Democrat, of ‘Washington. * ok ok % ‘Twentr-two years ago, in 1909, Her- bert Hoover wrote a book called “The Principles of Min! The publishers announce that it's still a fairly best- seller. To date, 7.243 copies have been disposed of. of whish 726, or about one- tenth, were sold during the past four years. In 1929, following the author’s for six | election to the presidency, the demand for Mr. Hoover's book jumped one-third over the previous year. The preface | explains that his ‘work is “intended neither for those wholly ignorant of | mining, nor for those long experienced in the profession.” * kK Two years ago the vivacious Mrs. Charles H. Sabin (the former Pauline Morton, daughter of the late Paul Mor- ton, Secretary of the Navy) quit the Republican National Committee, of | New York, to upset the water-wagon. | She founded the Women's Organization | for National Prohibition Reform. To- | day the membership is more than 200,- 000 scattered over 32 States with local branches. The District of Columbia | branch points with pride to its 2,000- odd cohorts, and boasts that it already | outstrips the number of women affiliated with the local W. C. T. U. Social regis- | terites predominate, ' they've become familiar figures on Capitol Hill when | duty summons the wet sisters to action. Tonight Miss Bell Gurnee, chairman of |ihe organization’s District council, is entertaining in honor of anti-dry mem- bers. of Congress. Senator Tydings, | Democrat, of Maryland, and Repre- sentative Mary T. Norton, Democrat, of | New Jersey, will be in the receiving line. | E;J!h are shining lights of the moist loc. | o s Washington's grand army of sensa- | tion-mongers and curiosity*seekers is in | high dudgeon over Secretary Adams' de- | cision to hold the Smedley Butler court- martial in Philadelphia. They'd been | licking_their chops in gay anticipation | of thrills galore. The prospect of hav- |ing to journey into Pennsylvania to get | them doesn’t look so good. (Copyright, 1931.) —— vt | Paid Out Annually to Fakers | Prom the Annision Star Barnum was right, if we may believe | the word of John Mulholland, a pro- | fessional magician. ‘The American peo- |ple are paying handsomely each year |for one form of humbuggery and it is | safe to say that large sums are going lout in many other ways in fake schemes. | According to Mulholland, $125,000,000 |is ‘spent annually by people who consult |fake fortune tellers, astrologists, phre- nologists and crystal gazers in the hope of getting a look into the future or find- ing out the answer to some mystery that they, have been unable to solve. It is pointed out that King Saul might have started the fad. He con- sulted the Witch of Endor at her cave dwelling near Jerusalem and received advice on some things that had been worrying him, and since that time, and probably long before, people have been |going on similar missions, consulting | fortune tellers and others claiming to possess supernatural powers ef discern- ment. | As a rule the fake fortune teller man- |ages to give some encouraging informa- | tion. The power of suggestion is strong. | People become happier, expectant of | something good, and since they are in | the mood, perhaps good fortune is caught more easily. The psychology of prophecy js a pow- erful factor. Of course, it is a shame | to see $125,000,000 wasteed. But it may |be that some small percentage of it comes back with interest. Not because the fortune teller can read tomorrow’s calendar. But because he probably does bring a little happiness when he fore- casts a roseate future. e Always Something. | From the Sioux Palls Daily Arsus-Leader. If farm relief ever plays out as a political issue, river navigation can be expected to take its place. e R L Even the Stars Are Speeding. From the Los Angeles Evening Express. Another speed record smashed. Star gazers on Mount Wilson recently clocked heavenly nebulae doing better than 8,000 miles a second. The best previous time was 2,400 miles. ] FEBRUARY identified, and the mysterious balminess | This makes the sev- | which she was the woman member for | 4, 1931 “Water Witch” Theory Works Successfully; To the Editor of The Star: In your issue for January 15 is lni interesting item concerning the finding of water on a school campus by a “water witch” after failure by an engi- neer. I note that the engincer, wh) naturally was chagrined over his poor showing, declared it a case of pure luck. | Despite the scornful jesting against “dousing,” .some well authenticated in- stances are on record of the discovery of ofl and water through the exercise of clairvoyance, among which two out- standing ones may be mentioned. In the early days of Chicago the city was without an adequate water sup- ply, and geologists declared that only top water was to be expected from such strata. A simple-minded man of Quaker ancestry, Abraham Jones, in- sisted that both water and oil could be found in a certain tract nearby, but his words were ignored until two | men from Maine, who were making a business trip to the city, learned of the | man and accompanied him to the loca- tion suggested. He not only assured them of the presence of an adequate water supply, but averred that he could trace the source to the Rocky Moun- tains, 2,000 miles distant. In Febru- ary, 1864, digging began and continued | to the following November, when—at a depth of 711 feet—water was struck which yielded 600,000 gallons a day. Seven different strata were pierced, the second and fifth of which were satu- rated with oil. Later the quantity from the artesian well poured forth at the rate of a million and a half gallons a day. . In the Gallipoli campaign of the| World War water was precious, and its | absence was one of the greatest diffi- | culties in holding the position on the peninsula. ~ Water was being brought | from Malta in huge barges, and on the beach a steam pumping plant was erected. Because of the intense heat the troops were faced with a most | serious condition, when some one sug- | gested that Sapper Kell; cess in finding water was be interviewed. He soon located water | within 100 yards of division headquar- | ters, where the resulting well gave | forth 2,000 gallons an heur of pure. cold artesian water. Later two other wells were opened up, and within a week Kelly had located 30 wells that furnished an allowance of one gallon a day for each of 100,000 men, not to mention mules, each’ of which would drink as much’ as 20 men. Previously the engineers had sunk shafts in vain within 50 yards of the spot where the successful wells were dug. This is a day when the unexpected is ever happening, and the human Tg:ge‘:i?::]d ?ezOWr? to receive new s of trut) ed o authenticated facts, s i WILLIAM J. SEELYE. e — World War Veteran Pensions, Why Not? To the Editor of The Star: Have just read Mark Sullivan’s ar- ticle on page A-4 of The Star of Janu- ary 30, 1931, and note that in his closing paragraph he states that Congressmen know that if the bonus (?) is paid in cash, the money will be spent, wives and families will be without Pprotection in the future, and, from out of this con- dltlon‘ddemnnd.u for more pensions will made. Now I ask you, why not? better off financially in proportion to the time and the population than our fathers and grandfathers? (I had a father in the Spanish-American ‘War and his fathor was in the Union Army' Are we any during the Civil War.) And were they not given a pensicn? Did not the pen- slons run until they died? worth a pension to fight | fig r the good old . ©61-65 and 1898, was not it worth a pension to offer one's self in 1917 -and 19182 Not many who are able to work and take care of themselves will ask for 2 pension. Should the United States be more liberal with the veterans of one war than with another? And the draft of 1861-65 was not all easy sailing, was 1yt? kI ht;e rfindhlebout the riots in New ork and elsewhere, g yet the pensions . Now the cashing at this time of ad- Justed compensation certificates would not be establishing a precedent, for, if my memory serves me correctly, cash bonuses were paid during the Civil War and before each enlistment, and some of $600. Now we are offered insurance policies, something that many of us will never cash. I for one, do not consider the ad- justed service certificate as being in lieu of a bonus. It is merely an adjust- ment of pay which every one who en- listed or was drafted is entitled to, if entitled to anything. Were not there plenty of people making $75 and $100 a week while we got 30 a month? In 1924 I was opposed to bonus legis- lation because I considered that it was commercializing patriotism, and, though I would enlist again if they would take me, I believe Kipling was right when he wrote “Tommy Atkins.” You know, “Tommy this and Tommy that,” etc, Furthermore, I'd like to be’ enlight- ened regarding one point. Mr. Sullivan states that “wives and families will be without protection” after the money is spent. I would like to know how much protection my wife and two children would get from the balance due on my $1,585 (the limit for my age). I doubt whether it would last twd years. Of course, it would help, but what kind of protection are the opponents of cash payment afraid will be taken away? LOUIS R. DENN: If it was or be ready to U. §. A.‘in R The Action of a Mother. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. A strong character rose to the sur- face in Chicago last week when a mother, Mrs. Anna Cohen, informed the police that her son had robbed a bank. The information came so quickly after the commission of the deed that the ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. } The answers to questions printed here each day are specimens picked from the mass of inquiries handled by our great Information Bureau maintained in Washington, D. C. This valuable service is for the free use of the public. Ask any question of fact you may want to know and you will get an immediate reply. Write plainly, inclose 2 cents in coin or stamps for return postage and address The Evening Star Infor- mation Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, di- rector, Washington, D, C. Q. Which member of the Washing- ton family is helping to furnish the l"zepl;;n of Mount Vernon in Paris?— A. Miss Anne Madison Washington, great-great-great-niece of the first President of the United States, is at present in Paris, where she is super- vising the furnishing and decorations of the replica of Mount Vernon which is being erected in Paris for the Inter- | national Colonial and Overseas Expo- ;l‘tlulngato be held from May 1 to October . 1. Q. When was the first radio program received in the United States from Ttaly’ R. National Broadcasting Co. A. The says that the first international pro- gram ever broadcast from Italy to the United States was staged on January 1. 1931, when Premier Benito Mussolini, speaking from Fascist headquarters in Rome, sent his New Year greetings to America through coast-to-coast net- works. This was the first program ever heard in this country originating on the Itallan mainland. Twice before, however, listeners had heard programs from Italian waters—from the yacht of Senatore Guglielmo Marconi, the father of radio. anchored off the coast of the peninsula. Q. How many students can West Point and Annapolis take>—W. C. K. A. The authorized strength of the United States Military Academy at West Point, N. Y., is 1,374 cadets and 4 Filipinos. The authorized strength of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., is 2,743, ?‘ Who planned the seal of Virginia? =l W A. The design of the seal of the State of Virginia was proposed by George Wythe, representing Virtue, her foot resting upon a figure representing Tyranny. The motto—*Sic Semper Tyrannis"—de- scribes this allegorical representation. Q. What book of John Fox’s was pub- lished shortly after his death?—S. J. B. A. John Fox, jr., died in 1919. The year following his book called “Erskine Dale” was published. How far inland is Canberra, the new capital of Australia?>—J. L. A. Tt is 70 miles inland, but is con- nected with a land-locked bay by a railroad. Q. Does the heat of the sun produce sunburn?—I. W. A. It is not the heat of the sun but the ultra-violet rays which produce sunburn, Q. What percentage of church membership comes from Sunday schools?>—E. M. K. A. It is estimated that ‘at least 70 pe; c]enz is recruited from the Sunday school. Q. How was cooking done in the old brick oven which had no fire under it? —M. L. H. A. The old-fashioned outside oven had a domed chamber built of brick and heated by means of light wood and sticks burned inside. When the bricks It consists of a female figure were well heated, the ashes and embers were raked out and the floor swept and the food to be cooked introduced by & flat, wooden shovel with a long handle and the door was then closed. Q. Please give the dimensions of the clock on the Houses of Parliament.— E.T.R. A. The dimensions of the clock on the Houses of Parliament are ,as fol- lows: Four dials, each 23 feet ‘square; figures, 2 feet: minute hand, 14 feet. The famous bell Big Ben weighs 1315 ns. Q. Where did Hannibal cross the Alps with some elephants?--O. W, C. A. Dorothy Giles, in “The Road Through Spain,” says: “This meant that we must reach the frontier at Le Perthus and cross the pass—the same by which Hannibal brought his army and his 20 elephants on that amazing march on Rome. * * *” Q. Of what wood should chessmen be made>—W. C. D. A. The Forest Products Laboratory says that the best chessmen are probe ably made from genuine boxwood. This wood is imported in relatively small quantities because of its scarcity and high price. It probably can be readily had, however, in the small sizes re— quired for chessmen. West Indian box- wood should also be suitable for chess- men. This wood is gnuch more com- mon and is considerably lower in price, Among American species holly is prob- ably best suited for chessmen. This wood is light colored, rather heavy, and quite hard. It carves well and takes a smooth finish. Q. How many kinds of equipment ;‘ra!:us‘gd by a telephone company? — 'A." ‘About 110,000 dissimilar parts are produced and assembled. Q. What country has a flag most nearly like ours?—P. L. A. The flag of Liberia is identical with ours, pt for the fact that it has a single :ar upon its field. In fact, our flag was taken as a model for theirs, Q. Has a new seal been adopted by Virginia?>—R. H. A. The matter of preparing a new seal of th> Commonwealth of Vi is now under consideration and a sculp- tor is engaged in preparing a model for a seal which will be presented for ap- proval by the assembly. Q. Which is rougher, the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean?—M. B, A. The zone of greatest storm fre- quency lies between latitudes 45 de- grees and 55 degrees. The most severe storms are the hurricanes that begin in the tropical portion of the Atlantic. The North Atlantic lies in the path of the great procession of cyclones and anti- cyclones of the middle latitudes, and also in the path of the West Indian hurricanes over its lower latitudes, and counterparts of these atmospheric dis- turbances in the South Atlantic. The Pacific is subject to sudden and violent storms, especially typhoons, but the fre- quency of storms is not so great as in the Atlantic. Q. How is the name of the Chinese city Peiping pronounced?—E. B. A. It is pronounced as though spelled in English Pay-ping, with the accent on the second syllable. - % What does mezzanine mean?— A. It means a story of diminished height introduced between two hl!her stories. It is derived from “mezzo0,” an Italian word meaning middle. r‘Root in World Court Plea Stirs National Discussion ‘The discussion before the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate concerning the amendments to the Wor.4 Court protocol proved most in- teresting to the country because of the participation by Elihu Root, former Secretary of State of the United States and author of the Root formula, which interprets the Senate amendments. Speaking of Mr. Root, now in his eighty-sixth year, ripe in experience nd in wisdom, the Chattanooga News says: “The crowning labor of his life, perhaps, will be bringing the United States into the World Court. In labor- ing for peace, Elihu Root has forgotten his old standpatism, and all the rest of us have forgotten it too. We find our- selves hoping that this great honor will the tinguished dean of the How sincere is Mr. Root’s own dzsire for the entry of the United States into the World Court is noted by the Youngstown Daily Vindi- cator, which states: “The World Court may not accomplish what its friends expect of it, Elihu Root told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; but, lie added, ‘God forbid that the United States may be the Nation which brings its efforts to naught!" The country cannot help listening to the voice of its leading Republican_citizen,” continues this paper. “Mr. Root is one of the great statesmen of our time.” “Mr. Root had a chief part in fram- ing the structure of the World Court,” says the Deseret News of Salt Lake City, “and at an advanced age he crossed the ocean to help make such changas in that structure as would give assur- ance to America of the desire of other nations ake the articles conform to the political theory and practic: of this country. Now on the eve of his eighty- sixth birthday, this venerable jurist makes his supreme appeal to the Sen- ate committee to, ratify the World Court protocol,” concludes this paper. * X x % “Senators of the United States, timid Jouth was captured and his plunder of $4,000 recovered without loss. There was no temporizing when the woman faced the fact of the son's act. As soon as a heap of banknotes and coins were placed before her, the resolve was made. There will be wonder that the scn of such a woman could go wrong. It is a certainty that no economic pres- sure would lead this mother to counte- nance wrongdoing in one of her family. The youth little knew his parent when he went to her first with the money he had acquired at the point of a gun. Modern life often brings instances of courage and character to public notice. That of the woman of Chicago who loved her son so well that she would not have him become a robber deserves a place beside the best of them. It is a case for the consideration of par- souls who have hitherto feared that American adherence to the World Court might prejudice our national rights, may now breathe freely, since Elihu Root has testified that the revised pro- tocol the President has asked the solons to ratify preserves unimpaired the res- ervation stipulated five years ago,” says the Houston Chronicle, as it calls at- tention to the fact that, “after all, the aged statesman who has given the best years of his life to the cause of world peace and co-operation, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is an American. The Senator who would infer that Elihu Root would knowingly sign away any of his country’s rights is afflicted with a more or less serious case of mental incompe- tency,” this journal concludes. to the Root formula, designed to meet the difficulties aroused by the sec- States into the court.would improve, not weaken its ,” since “the court now has the moral right and the - power, on requests from any nation participating, to give an advisory opin- ion on a_matter of concern to this country. It will continue to have that right so long as Washington stands aloof,” argues the News. ‘Taking an opposite view, the Chi- cago Daily Tribune declares: “The ar- gument for our adherence to the court, like that for our entrance into the League of Nations, ignores the con- trolling realities. Both institutions are iments of European politics, ines- capably involved in European contro- versies and influenced by European interests. In both these bodies, we must be a small, if influential, minor- lt‘y. and our submission is & surrender of our moral and political independ- ence, which no clear-minded consid- eration of European conditions can jus- tify. The arguments for it are based on a misunderstanding of the charac- ter of the institutions, the League and its court, to which we are invited to submit our future.” Quick decision by the Senate is urged by the Worcester Evening Gazette, say- ing: “To defer action on the World Court for another year cannot fail to imperil that project. It would mean that a subject which should be con- sidered on its merits would be over into the presidential campaign and bedeviled with politics. Mr. Hoover, when the need arose, has not hesitated to tell Congress what he thought of it. He can do so again,” suggests the Gazette, ‘Mr. Root's plan," remarks the Omaha World-Herald, “is the fruit of years of experience. Meanwhile, an- other peace plan is being presented to the world, in th: memoirs of Gen. Pershing. The commander of the A. E. F., in his serialized story, is making a skillful and emphatic piea for mili- tary preparedness. He has written a book, whose principal purpose is to pre- sent the military conception of peace through preparation. Elihu Root once served as Secretary of War.~ Indeed, Pershing pays tribute to h as the man responsible for ths creation of the American Army general staff in .its modern sense, as an iMstrument of preparation. But Root disavows the Ppossibilities of peace through . The weakness in Gen. Pers] posi- tion is that those nations m have most seriously followed the ideal of preparing for war in time of peace have invariably enjoyed the blessin; of peace over the shortest intervals. ‘The danger of warfare in Europe today is not found in Germany, which was almost disarmed by th> terms of the treaty of Versailles, but is found in France and Italy, which are e) ents who are watching their children ! about to reach the crossroads of life. It will be strange if the Chicago boy is not finally reclaimed through the reso- lution of his mother. ———— Large-Scale Sympathy. From the Savannah Marning News. A St. Louis woman has been awarded by the court $120,000 as heart balm. They are big-hearted out in the vasty West, aren't they? ——— A Chronic Preference. From the Haverhill Evening Gazette. A basic trouble with unemployment insurance is the fact that too many persons prefer insurance to work. o Wasted Words. From the Charlotte News. A San Francisco judge tells married couples to' quarrel, and then make up. The first part of his advice is superflous, ond part of the fifth reservation adopt- ed by the Senate on January 27, 1926, the Birmingham News explains: “Un. der the Root formula, either the Council or the Assembly of the League may con- sult the United States in the prelimi- nary discussion on requests for advis- ory opinions from the court. In such discussion, any objection by the United States is to be given the same standing as an objection by a member of the League. And after any request for an advisory opinion is submitted to the League, the United States is to be asked if she objects or if her interests are involved. If the United States objects, and if the request for an ad jon is still insisted upon, the with- drawal of the United States from the court is expressly anticipated, ‘without any imputation of unfrje: ness or un- willingness to co-operal The Jackson Citizen Patriot says the ‘“‘effect of this agreement, according to Mr. Root’s recent testimony, would be to give the United States an The Right of Pursuit. | Prom the Shreveport Journal. | A court has held that a married man has a legal right to open his wife’s let- |ters! . Yeah! But he ni something more than o ccurt decree i{jhe happens \to catch up with him. ——or—t Mathematical Sleuths. Prom the Hartford Times. . th-n'ld p A missing Rocky Hill girl was found | opinion since to nt:sa mghd a y':nh Wwho also | Without disappeared at the same time. De- tectives made the discovery by putting vone and one together. ting d consent of this Natig: x * X * The Ghi News tak o R o ot - r in a perilous race for military advantage.” e Protecting Naturalized Americans. Prom the Cincinnat! Times-Star. , A treaty just signed by the United States ana 22 foreign nations, respecting the rights of naturalized Americans in their homelands, will remove ong chronic source of internaticnal friction. Sev- eral European powers still adhere to the doctrine of eternal citizenship. In some instances naturalized Americans, when visiting their native lands, have been seized and impressed into the army. The practice has always, and ite properly, called forth notes ‘Washington. shn'p. few of the issue which led to the 1812,