Evening Star Newspaper, February 23, 1931, Page 8

THE EVENING itk Sunday Morning Edhion. WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY February 23, 1931 THEODORE W. NOYES. ... Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company us Office: 11th lt,-n"mnlu% ania Ave, New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. icago : Lake Michigan Building. pean Officei 14 Regent 8., London, England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. !Iar:s 55 i 45¢ per month iar hen 4 Bupdays) ..o 60c per month ing and Sunday Siar :‘ ‘U days) . ....85¢ per month lay Star “ee 5¢ per copy lon made at the end of each month. be sent in by mail or telephone 5000. Mail—Payable in Advance. aryland and Virginia. {ly and Sunday.....]yr. $10.00:1 fi.‘, only . 1 6.00: lay only . 1¥r, Rate mo. 85 | mo., mo., 40¢ All Other States and Canada. {ly and Sunds: i e oo inday only . Member of the Associated Press. ; Associated Press is exclusively -";" e N n eclymnpie o1 atches credited 1o it or not othe:wiss Rein $his paper and alto Tne Incal new published "herein All richts of publication of Special dispatches herein are also reserved. Washington and Communism. Students of the character and serv- fces of George Washington are much given to speculations upon how he would have acted, as Chief Executive ©of the Nation, in modern circumstances. ‘What would have been his attitude to- ward the tariff, toward immigration, toward trusts, toward direct Govern- ment aid to the people in emergencies? How would he have bchaved, in short, if he were President today? ‘There are certain clues to the an- swers to such questions, provided by ‘Washington's spoken and written words, his speeches in public and his letters in private as well as official corre- spondence. It is clear enough from such a research into his mental proc- esses and his reasoning that he would have comported himself in modern cir- eumstances precisely as h: did in his own time and environment, as a be- Mever in democratic «government, an unyielding opponent of “foreign entan- glements,” a firm advocate of making America sufficient for its own main- tenance, Just at this time there is one question that greatly concerns many Americans, that of the effort to subvert the Gov- ernment to Communism, after the Rus- sian pattern. Small as the numbers of the believers in this form of national organization may be in the United Btates, their activities are nevertheless pernicioys and their example is infec- tious, There are tokens too plajn to be mistaken and too sinister to be ignored of the spread of this noxious influence in this country. George Washington would have been one of the first to stamp upon this ser- pent. He would have been one of the most determined opponents of Com- munism in America. That he would have refused recognition to any foreign government based upon communistic principles such as those that form the fundamentals of the Russian state Is not to be doubted. That he would have urged the enactment of laws to prohibit subversive activities in this country on the part of agents of such a foreign government is clear from even the most casual reading of the records of his acts and thoughts. 1t {8 meet, therefore, that upon this day, when the birth of George Wash- ington is officially observed, attention should be paid to this question. Can there be any doubt of the duty of the Government that has succeeded, in the eourse of & century and a third, to that which was headed by the First Presi- dent, to prevent the spread of the evil doctrines of Communism, to check the crafty wiles of the commissars at Mos- cow Who are trying to hreak down the governing systems of all other states by competitive trading with slave-pro- duced goods? The sense of security that arises from & count of Communists in the United Btates is dangerous. It is true that ap- parently the red influence has failed in the present economic crisis in this country to break down the loyalty of the people to their chcsen and accept- qd form of government. But there is no permanent guarantee in such an escape. Unmistakably the ranks of the agitators and subverters have been re- cruited during these months of non- employment, of privation and suffering. There will be other crises and other opportunities for the agents cf Com- munist Russia, if it survives, to attack #gain, with perhaps more success. George Washington would have been first in defense, as well as in peace, In war and in the hearts of his country- men. ——— The eminent screen actor, Charles Chaplin, is being reeeived with high honars in England. Many a good laugh | will be lost if he is persuaded to take | Rimself too seriously. ————— Letting the Navy Down. ©On March 4 Congress closes down, shuts up shop probably for nine months, Pinal efforts will be made during the eight remaining working days to get through important legislation which | has been hanging fire while the Con- gress fought out the relief problem and soldiers’ bonus legislation and talked polities. Some of these important meas- | ures seem bound to fail. One of them, unfortunately, is the naval construction program bill. This measure, the first step looking toward bringing the Amer- ican Navy up to the strength specified for it under the London naval treaty, has been sacrificed, it appears, in order to make it possible to get through all the appropriation bills and avoid an ex- tra session of Congress after March 4 Senator Hale of Maine, chairman of the Senate Naval Affairs Committee, in- tensely sympathetic to the upbuilding on Saturday afternoon gave over his determination to press for the passage of the bill upon the appeals of the Senate leaders. Senator Blaine of Wisconsin, one of the “little Navy” 1 the floor, and it was report- t he had threatened to talk the the day unless there were some assurance that the naval prog:am bill be postponed. The naval appiopriation bill was pending, the annual supply bill, @ bill appropriating $20.000 600 for ad- ditional hospital facilities for the war weterans and other measures. As soon went through in jig time. What is happening to the naval con- Suucuon program legislation is illustra- tive of the manner in which a minority in the Senate, no matter how small, is able to hamstring important legislation in the short sessions of Congress. It is merely another demonstration of the unwisdem of such short sessions, which give a minority the power to prevent action on important legislation. Friends of the American Navy, although they are in a great majority in both Houses of Congress, are helpless, it seems, be- cause of the opposition of a few Sena- tors in a short session of Congress, under the rule of unlimited debate which prevails in the Upper House. Naval vessels are not built overnight. It takes time to perfect a fighting ship. The failure now of the naval program bill sets back this country another year, in all probability, in getting under way vessels which the national defense re- quires. Last-minute appeals are being sent out to prominent American cit'zens urging them in turn to demand of Con- gress that something be done to get this legisletion passed by Congress be- fore March 4. The American Legion is stirring in the interest of the bill, too. It is wisely pointed out that the pas- sage of the construction bill, if an ap- propriation is coupled with it, will give employment to many workers at a time when employment still lags in this coun- try. It is unfortunate that the country should be helpless in this matter, be- cause, forsooth, a small band of Sen- ators has determined no naval increase shall be authorized at this time, & SIS Children Who Need Food. Dr. Ballou's report on the number of school children in need of free school luncheons emphasizes, in the first place, the necessity for an immediate confer- ence between officials of the schools, the parent-teacher organization, the health officer and the Community Chest, at which the findings should be analyzed and discussions of the problem thus out- lined begun, The significant point of the report is that while approximately 1.200 children are receiving free food, an additional 1,500 are as much in need of it but are | zetting nothing. The fact that the 2,700 children concerned — excluding, those | now cared for in the special schools— represent a relatively small proportion of the 77,000 Washington public school children is interesting and to some ex- tent encouraging. But aside from that it in no manner minimizes the real ex- tent of the need indicated by the school Teport. The conferencé to follow the report should discuss, in the first place, what is meant by a free lunch-on. If a free luncheon means a few crackers and a bottle of milk, for which most school children now pay 25 cents a week, that is one thing. If a free luncheon means more nourishing food, such as hot soup, the problem of supply is rais;d. Few of the elementary schools are equipped with facilities for furnishing hot food. And if the need for free food includes the need for breakfast, where and how is such a meal to be furnished at school? The school report is indefinite. For that reason the clarification is needed that would naturally follow a confer- ence between the school officials, those of the organizations such as the parent- teacher group now supplying some ehil- dren with food, and the experts in charity and welfare work in the Dis- trict, whose advice is needed. In this respect it is to be borne in mind that help for the needy children is a re- sponsibility resting primarily upon the people of the community and not upon the school officials, and there is danger in confusing the educational problems, with which the latter must deal. with the problem of charity, which lies be- vond their proper jurisdiction. The child who goes hungry to school will in ' all probability remain hungry during | the holidays. The schools furnish an excellent medjum for obtaining infor- mation. The parent-teacher organiza- | tlons exist as a linison agency between | the schools and the public. And the charitable and welfare organizations are equipped for expert follow-up and in- vestigating work. Properly co-ordinated, their efforts should result in a satis- factory plan to end a condition that must not be permitted to continue Dr. Ballou's report will naturally considered in connection with legisla- tion, now pending before the District | | | | Committee of the House, to furnish an | appropriation of $30,000, administered by the health officer in supplying food for children of the public, private and | parochial schools of the city in need of | such assistance | The report shows that 3,000 children are in need of, or are receiving, food | now, including in this number the| pupils of the tuberculosis schools and | the schools for cripples. That means | that the $30,000 appropriation \\nuldl supply ten dollars a school year, or approximately five and a half cents a day, for food for each child, This! is in the public schools alone. The | McLeod bill includes private and | parochial schools, and if the Govern- ment undertakes to furnish such food free, the number of child applicants will obviously be inereased There may come a time when the Washington public schools, in addition to supplying free educational facilities | and free text books, will supply luncheons of nourishing food from school kitchens, at the expense of the | taxpayers. When that time comes the question will have been considered on its merits, and, of course, it contains merits. But the $30,000 appropriation proposal represents a half-baked idea. The money is insufficient. The need for governmental assistance has not been established. The administration of such a fund would set up another governmental agency concerned with the delicate work of discr minating be- | tween the able and the helpless, And | until the members of this community petition for such aid and rel'ef and admit thefr own helplessness, the pro- posal should be dropped. o WP His popularity on shipboard enables the Prince of Wales to point cut that while he may be an indifferent horse- man, he is a first-rate sailor. e et Women and the Death Penalty. The State of Pennsylvania this morn- ng took the lives of a woman and & | man wbo were guilty of a wanton | wuwiger, ‘rhe case has atiracied much | attention, not from th: circumstances &s assurance was given that the naval bill would not be pressed further ot the crime itself, but from the fact that one of the participants was & quiries. | significance. | that scarcely anybody appears positives ot o kioas " ¢ moas y execution chair or STAR | was broku sua tue vor moazures 4. gong to the gallows is especially abhorrent. Never- theless the law mak~s no distinction as to the sex of the guilty. Juries may soften their hearts toward women who are acoused and are proved guflty of| capital offenses, and render modified verdicts.- Judges may, within the dis- cretion permittad by the law, impose less than death s'ntences upon them. Pardoning boards and executives may grant commutation of death sentences that have been given to them. But when all these recours's have failed the woman stands in the death chamber upon precisely the same footing as the man, and the law must take its course, Perhaps such spectacl s as that enacted this morning at Bellefonte, Pa., may give greater momentum to the movement for the abolition of the death penalty in Am rica. There is, however, no particular reason for this. Had the two guilty ones executed today been men, their crime being what it was, no appreciable contribution to the plea for change of law would be noted. ‘The woman who goes forth upon a career of crime is just as little deserving of sympathy as tae man. She may be pitied, as the man may be, for having vielded to temptation to embark upon a cours: leading to death. But the very fact that makes her the object of spe- cial commiseration as she nears and reaches the fatal spot of punishment should have deterred her from such a course, e A great man who has left his repu- | tation in the hands of posterity cannot defend himself against ugly comment, usually inspired by desire for a Htti-“ profit from sensational print. Even if | he were alive, a person of true greatness | would be too much engaged in working for his fellow man to offer a reply to irresponsible attack. ———— On the lecture platform Smedley But- ler will have opportunity to get even better acquainted with the public. There may, however, be a slight disappoint- ment if he confines himself to discreet generalities and says nothing that might suggest possibility of mare excitement by creating demands for an apology. ———— Underworldlings see no reason for being pursued by the police because of homicides when they are so willing to inflict capital punishment on one an- other on the slightest provocation. BBt T ‘The Uniled States Senate will adjourn its career of investiget.on, but the New York City authorities can look forward to no respite in their momentous in- ——e—e—— More reports are desired from the Wickersham Commission. As a great advertising authority remarked, “Keep- ing everlastingly at it brings success.” —t—— February has many days of memorable In addition to those long familiar, next Wednesday is scheduled in legislative circles as “Veto day.” B S — SHOOTING STARS, BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. At the Book Counter. Upon the counter where are shown the books On which a nation with amazement lcoks, Books that are fraught with scandal's morbid gloom In desecration of each honored tomb, There lay a volume which in bright array Presented poems of a bygone day And bade us pause all lovingly to note The verses that James Whitcomb Riley wrcte. It was like blossoming that finds its way To beauty in a region of decay; A blossoming which is revived at last And genily breathes the memories of the past It stilled the quarrel in the weary mind, Reviving love for simple humankind As in the turmoil it made bold to quote The verses that James Whitcomb Riley wrote. Assuming Needless Burden. “Have you ever studied psychology?” “No,” answered Senator Sorghum. “I have decided to give my mind a rest. A statesman can find enough perplexity in the day's work. There is no use of his going out of his way to find subjects | Iy to understand.” Jud Tunkins says the radio is show- ing the value of time. Fifteen minutes 15 long enough for anybody to tell what's on his mind. Universal Peril. On earth the reckless motors fly; The airplane is a rover Who even makes the birds on high Afraid they'll get run over. Sense of Humor. “Your daughter told me I might lsk; you for her hand,” said the young m: “You're the third this week,” said M: Dustin Stax. “The girl has her own | sense of humor and this Interview 1s another of her practical jokes.” “A dragon.” said Hi Ho, the sage of | Chinatown, “no longer terrifies by its | appearance. It is only imaginary. A fiame-breathing automcbile is real.” The Apologetic Bouquet. Why should we fear the racketeer? He must be kind and gentle, very! For should he kill, no doubt he will Send flowers to the cemetery. “Dar ain’ much exercise in a ecrap game,” said Uncle Eben. “Yet it kin improve de appetite, I has seen it keep men goin' hongrier an’ hongrier.” o All but the Big One. From the Grand Rapids Press Some people can solve every cross- word puzzle except how to keep from speaking cne. .o On Par With the Ped. Pram the Miami Daily News. A Pittsburgh judge has ruled that & olfcr 18 not compelled to yell “Fore,” us giving the golfer the same im- munity enjoyed by the motorist. e s Seesaw. Prom the Columbus Ohio King Alfonsc’s throne totters so often it gives the tmpression of being a rock- ing cheir. Politeness and Frankness. Fiom the Springfield (Mass.) Union. just | one’s - A-8 THE EV G STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C [ONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1931, fi_——“—&mfi——m'——_—m ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Since our childhood days, when we had ambitions to be a motorman or conductor, these gentlemen have inter- ested us. ‘Today small boys want to be aviators, or at least they think they do. You see them every afternoon at 3 o'clock, pour- ing out of the grade schools with black leather helmets and goggles. Years before Lindbergh appeared upon the horizon of youth, however, the street car motorman, with his com- manding posiiion at the head of the largest vehicle on the streets, and his resounding, clanging bell, was the hero of smallboydom. Surely he was and is a picturesque figure. No doubt there is many an elderly motorman, white mustaghe and all, who gets quite a “kick,” as we say nowadays, from his premier posi- tion in the traffic flow. It is something, now, to have such a vehicle under one's fingers, to thread way along the tracks, to go through crowds, to put on the brakes to avoid running over that old lady, to come to the barn, to greet one's fellows, to put out to see again, etc., ete. ‘specially the “etc.” There must be & great deal of the “etc.” in the life of a motorman which no small boy, how- ever admiring, ever had which few adults who have not worked at the controls have any real concep- tion of, either. The small boys of yesteryear swcre such allegiance to him that now th are grown up and have become banke and clerks, and writers, and aviatol and soldiers, and florists and almos everything else, they still keep a warm place in their minds and hearts for the man who peers out the front glass of the street car: * Back in the 90s, thereafter, on_ win exposed position was a part of the gencral snobbery of the day. Gradually the cars took ‘'on more humanitarian shape, and the motorman was invited in off the platform, or, rather, the platform was incorporated in the in- closed car itself, The conductor’s place has been more se ure. Always he has had access to the heated body of the vehicle, even in the days when he, too, had to stand on an exposed platform at the rear. The advent of the pay-as-you-enter types of cars, with their swinging doors, put the conductor permanently behind his stan- chion, or whatever one calls the affair he stands by. In the old days, as we recall them, the motorman was the hero with the small boys. Trafiic lights and other impediments had not arisen away from his major role in the streets. When the big car ground its way down the Avenue, with Jim Donohue stepping on the bell to inform Thomas Miller, driving a bread wagon a block away, that he was in some danger of being run over, there was not a small boy in Washington, D. C., who did not envy Jim, motorman. Just how many boys grew up to be motormen there is no way of telling. We always have wondered if boys who actually turned into motormen ever dreamed about being such. Maybe they did. But with the average boy, the craze came into being at about 8 or 9 years of age and vanished forever at 10 or 11 years old. Perhaps only boys des- tined by fate to become motormen kept the dream beyond the years men- tioned. o Since those days, those of us who have been faithful to the public utili- ties, with possible lapses into motor- dom, and unblushing transfers of af- fection to motor busses, have found our contacts with motormen and conduc- tors often marred by acts which re- sulted in more or less mental friction. After we have done that astounding and somewhat peculiar thing known as “growing up,” although just exactly y idea of, or | nd for some time | to take | what We grow up to no one seems to know, exactly, we discovered that motormen were just men. And, often, harassed men, and some- times, alas, surly men! A passenger was just as likely to run into a groucny street car employe as into & grouchy store clerk. It was peculiar about the men of the traction companies—if all went well, one merely handed one of them a fare—it was called a “ticket” until it changed its shape and com- positicn and became a “token"—and then forgot about him. The man at the tiller was a part of the machine. If one happened to be near the front, and was in a con- templative mood, he might survey the man at the wheel, and_vaguely realize that he had a wife at home and chil- dren to feed. Occasionally, in. talka- tive mood, one became amazed to dis- cover that this grumpy old feliow with his flowing mustache, was & human being, after all, with a daughter who was going to graduate from high school tomorrow. S:mehow that put a new light on these hard-working, faithful servants of the great many-headed pub- lie, But what was one to think of the motorman, who, on a wet and nasty night, deliberately pulled away just as one thought he was going to stop and take one aboard? Surely muffled curses followed him into the night and the; | do say that the glass of more than one | car was shattered by irate patrons who resented such tactics. Or how about that time, pleasanter to recall, when you innocently folded vour transfer and so handed it to the | conductor. You can see him yet, ex- amining the slip of paper as if it were dynamiie, or something. “What's the matter?” you acked, re- sentfull”. “Do you see germs on it, or mething? “I's folded,” he said. critically, with a bitter glance at both it and you. “Well,” you retorted, quick as a wink, | “do you want me to present it to you | in_a ‘frame?” This repartee floored the fellow prop- erly. It was the only time in your life that you ever said the right thing at the right time. Usually you would have thought of such a bright reply hours later, but this time, by George, you came right back at him! s A more pleasant memory is of the motorman of a one-man car, who stop- ped his car in the night rather than run over a cat which had become dazed by the glare of his headlight. He was a good man, and no doubt had a pet of his own at home. | " But memory is soured by the recol- | lection of several disagrecuble experi- | ences, in which, as strange as it may seem, tne conductors and motormen were invariably wrong. Usually they were. Perhaps no one but an employe can know the inner irritation which arises as a result of the constant jam- ming and cramming of human beings into a given space. Yet it may be doubted if the com- anies, as institutions, have as yet nsed completely the necessity for uni- versal courtesy, and a complete under- standing of the problems of the riders. Riding on perhaps the best bus in the city the other day, we came to a point where transier 10 a_just-arrived car was necessary. The bus driver tooted his horn half a dozen times, as a signal that he had a transferring passenger, but the car went merrily ahead. As & result, this passenger walked steadily for 10 minutes toward his street, and, |once there, looked back. There yet was no other car in sight. Such little dif- | ficulties arise every day in_the life of patrons of the companies. Yet, by and large, the cars and busses are the safest places in the streets, and as long as they remain so. we must take off our hats to motormen and conductors, our childhood ideals. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS The Norris Muscle Shoals bill which signed the delicate and diplomatic Congress is presenting to Mr. Hoover close on the heels of the bonus loan bill in its political aspects of even more momentous consequences. Norris and those who think as he does on the power question have been battling for 10 years to secure Government operation of ‘Muscle Shoals as a power plant. Norris fought the Ford offer in the ear= lier years—a lease to Ford would have taken the power out of the Govern- ment's hands. Norris, though he sugar- coats his bill with some fertilizer pro- visions, is the first to concede that large- scale fertllizer production at Muscle Shoals for the ben-fit of the farmer is a mirage. The Norris bill when all is said and done is generally rated as a Elver proposition pure and simple. A oover veto has been quite generally forecast. Qne version current in Wash- ington is that the President welcomes the bill, that he passed a hint to end the deadlock on the Norris bill and to It it come up to him so that he might blast it. Unlike the bonus bill situa- tion, Mr. Hoover has reason to expect that Congress will sustain a veto for the Norris bill if he gives it a veto. The power fssue will then be clearly drawn for 1932. This weck will tell the story. * o % The forthcoming resignation of Chair- man Alexander H. Legge from the Farm Board secems to be the signal for a general exodus of the directing heads of that mighty farm relief organization. Samuel R. McKelvie of Nebraska, wheat member of the board, will retire on June 15, when his present term ex- pires. C. C. Teague of California, like Chairman Legge, has already remained longer in the Federal service than the year which he promised when he was criginally “drafted.” Mr. Teague is to retire shortly to resume the presidency of the California Fruit Growers' Ex- change. The term of William F. Shill- ing of Minncsota, representative of the dairy interests on the board, expires June 15 and he is expected to retire at that time. That accounts for four members of the hoard of eight. Vice Chairman James C. Stone of Kentucky, the tobacco member, is being widely boomed as probable successor to Mr. Legge as chairman. Clearly the Presi- dent now faces a harder task than he had at the outset to staff this billion- dollar farm relief agency with first- grade business ex‘cutives—and he had a hard enough time when the original board was appointed. v Comment in Southern newspapers in- dicates that Mr. Hoover showed good Judgment in sending native Southern- ers to do his fact-finding in the drought- stricken States of Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. Had these emissaries been of different antecedents their reception might have been less cordial. For this mission the President chose his military aide, Col. Campbell B. Hodges, who was born and reared on a farm in Louisiana not far from the Arkansas border. Ac- companying Col. Hodges on this trip, which just has been completed, were Maj. Oliver 8. Wood, whose home State is Arkensas, and Capt. Lewis A. Pick, a Virginian, 0 had had a recent tour of duty at New Orleans. These offi- cials did much more than observe. ‘They sought to stimula‘e the local communities to assume their full share of responsibility in connection with the relief work. Col. Hodges reports that the Red Cross is functioning in every ecommunity and has provided for those in distress. Conditions are expected to show further improvement as the crop loan maney becomes available. * ¥ x ‘Though Mr. Hoover is still one sec- retary short, he is managing very well since the departure of George Akerson, and may do pothing further with re- spect to filling the vacant post for some months to come. This at least is the appearance of the matter around the executive offices at the present time. Upon Secretary Walter Newton has de- volved the duty of “mee! the formerly Mr. Akerson's 3 retary Lawrence Richey has been as-|use only. | business of arranging the daily ap- pointment calendar and receiving the President’s callers. Messrs. Newton and Richey between the in addition to what they did before, are now carrying |on the Akerson division of the manifold secretarial establishment, and are not |(l;u|inplllmng the least bit or calling for elp. * % % % | The 1,800-page tome in railroad con- |solidations and holding_companies just issued by the House Interstate Com- merce Committee is packed with inter- esting sidelights in the number and kind of rail stocks in the strong boxes of the rich. It confirms the legend that Arthur Curtiss James of Newport, famous com- modore of the New York Yacht Club, is the largest individual owner of rail- road securities in the country, While large railroad holdings are attributed to the Van Sweringen family, the Har- riman family, the Vanderbilt family, the Whitney family, the Widener fam- ily, the Pahnestock family, the George F. Baker family, only Mr. and Edward S. Harkness reach the dis- tinction of a tabular description of their holdings. ~ Mr. Harkness has 30,550 shares of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, 67,090 of New York Central, 47,720 of South Pacific, 17,388 of Pitts- burgh & Lake Erie and 7,800 of Union Pacific, Mr. James owns 349,790 com- mon stock shares of the Western Pacifie, 52,716 ecmmon shares of the Northern Pacific, 52,850 shares of the Great North- ern, 51,000 common shares of the Southern Pacific, 1,000 prior preferred shares of the Boston & Maine and 807 common shares of the Chicago, Bur- lington & Quincy. * Ok ok % The man who advertised that his relatives were in every war—that he served his State in more offices than any other man living or dead—that he was elected to the Senate by the largest vote ever given to a senatorial aspirant in his State—and the grand master, grand patriarch and grand representa- tive of Grand Encampment and Grand Lodge to the Sovereign Grand Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, last week silently folded his tent in the night like the Arabs and departed the Washington scene, returning to the place whence he came, Until fur- ther notice, any mail for the Hon. Coleman Livingston Blease will reach him at Columbia, §. C. An important ally in any Senate fiilibuster, when the final curtain descends on the waning session of the Seventy-first Congress his departure will be permanent. (Convright, " 1931.) ) Make It Fifty-Fifty! From the Little Rock Arkansas Democrat. University of Pennsylvania will y coaches salaries llke professars. t they should do is pay the professors salaries like coaches. - e An Ideal Amusement. From the Cleveland News. With the Nation so sorely in need of entertainment, isn't it just too bad that Maj. Gen. Butler isn't to be tried by the Wickersham Crime Commission? e oving Him Along. From the Milwaukee Sentinel. One of the hazardous sociological ex- periments of the present is to tell a panhandler where the rescue mission is situated. o Stringency. Prom the Columbus Ohio State Journal. There is good reason to believe that the depression was cansed partly by an oversurplus of Scotch jokes. —— s A Domestic Plant. From the Columbus Ohio State Journal. + We suppose the owner of that $1,- 000,000 distillery in New York will con- tend he was manufacturing for home "> 1 Jamesq The Political Mill By G. Gould Lincoln. ‘The country expects President Hoover to veto the soldiers' bonus loan bill this week, It also has gained the impres- sion, from the large majorities by which the bonus bill was put through both houses, that the House and Senate will romp on the presidential veto and put the bill through despite the disapproval of the Chief Executive. The fact of the matter seems to be that the country would expect any President to veto the bill, whether he happened to be a Demo- crat or Republican. Al Smith, for ex- ample, or John W. Davis. And probably any President would veto the bill with the Treasury Department in the same situation as it now finds itself and busi- ness still to be rehabilitated. It hap- pens, however, that none of these gen- tlemen are called upon to exercise the veto at this particular time. It is Presi- dent Hoover who i3, 50 to speak, on the firing line. Apparently he has been de- serted by his party in Congress, so far as this contest is concerned. The Re. publicans have been just as anxious to jump aboard the famous band wagon as the Democrats. It has been a kind of “devil take the hindmost” affair, The President is fortunateiy situ- ated, despite the fact that he is about to find himself in the minority, de- cidedly in the minority. on this bonus legislation. If, notwithstanding the bad complexion Secretary of the Treasury Mellon has put upcn the financial situ- ation, the bonus bill does not retard a return of business and the Govern- ment finds it is possible to finance the bonus loans without increasing taxes, it 1s unlikely that his veto of the bonus bill will be held up against him. Peo- ple will be too much pleased getting back jobs and dividends. On the other hand. if all the evils predicted by Mr. Mellon take place following the pas- sage of this bonus legislation, it will be the Congress and not the President to which the country will turn to lay | the blame. * ok ok ok The suegestion that it may be neces- sary to increase taxes at this time, or by next December, because of th> bonus legislation has given some of the sup- porters of the bonus bill the hump, They indignantly deny that such is the case; they assrt emphatically that it will not be necessary for the Treasury to do anything but pay the bonus loans, although, unless Mr. Mellon is tre- mendously inaccurate, the Treasury faces a deficit of $500,000,000 ev-n if there be no bonus legislation. Perhaps they are right and Mr. Mellon is wrong. For their sake, it is to be hoped that Mr. Mellon is wrong—and indeed for th: sake of the country, since the Con- gress is bent upon this legislation. Rais- ing taxes is not going to make the Congress popular. ~ Furthermore, the critieisms that the Democrats have bsen plastering upon the Hoover administra- tion will ease to register in a hurry if the country bscom-s convinced that the Democrats are responsible for in- creasing Federal taxes. * % % x It was not so long ago that the Re- publicans were in a stew—the wet Re- publicans—over the dry pronounce- ments of their national chairman, Sen- ater Fess of Ohio, who gave it as his opinion that the G. O. P. would have to be dry in the campaign of 1932, par- tieularly as the Democratic party would be wet. Some of the wet Republicans went so far as to suggest that Senator Fess should take himself out of the plcture as national chairman. Senator Fess, however, has continued to remain on the job as national chairman. Prob- ably not because he was anxious to hold on to the office, for he did not seek it in the first instance. But it Wwas obvious he would not retire when he was being fired at from New York, Chicago and other wet centers. Further- more, if he had gone out, would the Republicans have filled his place with a wet? They would not. But now that the Democrats have started their own ruction over the wet and dry issue, the troubles of Senator Fess have fallen Into the background. The boot is on the other leg in the Democratic camp. They have a wet national chairman, Mr. Raskob, and the dry Democrats are seeking to unhorse him, just as the wet Republicans have been out to get Sen- ator Fess. The dry Democrats are not any more likely to succeed in their ef- forts than have been the wet Repub- licans. * % ¥ With the end of the present session of Congress the Republicans will begin to plan more and more for the national campaign next year. Senator Fess may decide that he wishes to get out of the chairmanship without waiting longer. That is, provided the party, ean settle on another man to take 'his place. Doubtless the President will have a lot to say in the selection of @ new chair- man. But there is also the possibility that Mr. Fess will just go right along being chairman for the rest of the year and perhaps right up to the next na- tional convention. He has been a strong supporter of President Hoover always. In the last preconvention campaign Senator Fess was at heart a Hoover man. Because his own State had a favorite son candidate, the late Senator Willis, Mr. Fess was unable to get on the Hoover band wagon as early as he would otherwise have done. When the Republican National Committee con- vened in Kansas City it was Mr. Fess who served as temporary chairman and delivered the keynote speech. Not- withstanding the criticisms which have been leveled at Banator Fess because of his dry statement after the last cam- paign, the Republican party owes much to him, and it could go a long way and not find a man who would fill the office of n:‘znhlmal chairman as acceptably at e. * ¥ ¥ x Tomorrow is election day in Chicago where the 'E‘cople of the Windy City are choosing their candidates for mayor. The interest in the campaign has cen- tered in the Republican race for the nomination, with “Big Bill" Thompson, the incumbent, sceking renomination. He is opposed by Judge John H. Lyle, who gained a lot of notoriety last year by his attempt to hold gangsters on the charge that they were “public enemies,” and Alderman Arthur Albert. With the opposition split, the chances of the mayor to succeed himself seem quite good. The government of Chicago, the country’s second largest city, is a matter of considerable moment to the people not only of that city but of the country. It hasn't been anything to brag about under “Big Bill.” A couple of years ago the people rose against the City Hall gang, which is headed by the mayor, and gave it a drubbing. It does nof look, if reports from Chicago are to be credited, as if the drubbing would be repeated today, although anything is possible if the voters really are aroused. BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. ‘What do you need to know? Is there some point about your business or per- sonal life that puzsles 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- uiry to The Evening Star Information %urelu, Frederic J. Haskin, rector. ‘Washington, D. C., and inclose 2 cents in coin or stamps for return postage. Q. What were the best 10 motion pictures in 1930?—=T. F. A. The Film Daily compiled the votes of 333 motion picture critics employed by newspapers, syndicates and fan and trade publications. The result was the following: “All Qulet on the Western Front,” “Abraham Lincoln,” “Holiday,” “Journey’s “Anna_ Christie,” “The Big House,” “With Byrd A ‘The Divorcee,” Angels” and “Old English.” . How much life insurance is now in force?—T. G. A. On June 1, 1930, there were 120, 785,521 insurance policles in force in the United States, making a total of $103,- 146,440,473 in force. Q. What is the area and population of Ecuador?—G. M. A. Ecuador has an area of 118596 square miles and approximately 2,000,- 000 inhabitants. Q. What were the seven cities that “warred for Homer dead”?—H. J. D, A. Smyrna, Rhodes, Colophon, Sa- lamis, Chios, Argos and Athens. Q. How large were some of the plan- tations in Virginia in the early days?— M. K. A. There were many plantations of 5.000 or more acres. Nicholas Hay- ward had a unit of 30,000 acres, and William Fitzhugh at one time owned a total of 45,000 acres. Q. Can cotton, banana and orange trees frost?>—A. W. A. Cotton can stand & very slight watermelon and stand a shillings, sixpences and are now known as hog money, use they bore the figure of a hog on the obverse side. . What was Petroleum V. Nasby's real name?—I. L. W. A. David Ross Locke. Q _What is chewing gun made of? —E. T. A. The ingredients of chewing gum are gum chicle, sugar, glucose, caramel butter, balsam and paraffin wax. Q. Who was the first to have his home lighted with electricity?—E. T. U A. The National Electric Light As- sociation says that the first private res- idence lighted by electricity was that of J. Plerpont Morgan, a director of th Edison Electric Illuminating Co. of New York. Q. What became of Paganini’s vio- lin?—W. C. 8. A. Paganini played a very fine Guar- nerfus violin. He bequeathed this in- strument to the municipality of Genoa, Italy, the town where he was born, and it is preserved there as one of its mo:t valuable possessions. Q. Why was the Monroe Doctrine re- stated in the 90s?—F. B. A. Sepator Bingham, in his book on the Monroe Doctrine, says it was not until 1895, during the second adminis- tration of President Cleveland, that a Becretary of State thought it expedient or necessary to restate the Monroe Doctrine and to bring us to the verge of a European war by backing it up with an absolutely uncomgmmmnf at- titude. Veneguela had had a_long- standing boundary dispute with British Guiana. Nobody cared very much either way until somebody discovered that in the disputed territory were rich gold fields. In the excitement that ensped the Venezuelans appealed to the United States and Secretary Olney, invoking the Monroe Doctrine, brought matters to a erisis. Q. How many people are n.s‘\‘:.uy em- ?7— frost if only of a short duration. A certain subspecies of orange trees, like- wise, can stand a slight frost, but the banana and watermelon would be in- stantly killed by frost. Q. Who said that all military knowl- edge could be summed up in three words?—A. L. B. A. The Russian general, Alexander V. Suvarov. The three words wes “Stoupal 1 bi"—“Forward and strike.” Q. In English stories, when they talk about having a B. and S. what do they mean?—E. C. A. A brandy and soda. Q. Have any firms in the United States been in business for 200 years?—y| M. 8. A. The George Washington Bicen- tennial Commission is compiling a list of business firms which have been in continuous existenee since the days of George Washington. Already the com- mission has found the surps num- ber of 225 business firms which have had an unbroken existence since the eighteenth century. Q. Can a cement walk be laid over an old brick walk which is somewhat uneven?—W. H. B, A. A brick walk makes a good base for a cement walk. Q. What was the money known as “hog money"?—S. E. J. colonists in A._Colns struck by the the Bermuda Islands about 1616-1618— ployed in the automobile in W. P P 1oy mobile industry during 1929. A 3.963,459 were employed directly and 737,000 indirectl) y. Q. How ls. Westminster Abbey heat- ed?—R, L, A. It is heated by an American oil burner. Q. Please give the quotation in which Mark Twain is_call the “Lincoln of literature.”—E. B. A. In “My Mark Twain,” Willlam Dean Howells says: “It is in vain that I try to give & notion of the intensity with which he pierced to the heart of life and the breadth of vision with which he com ed the whole world and tried for the reason of and then left trying. Lowell, Holmes—I knew them al all the rest of our sages, poets, but Clemens was sole, incomparable, the Lincoln of our literature.” Q. Why is Delaware not listed in the States paying ‘old-age pensions when old people in that State are receiving such’ pensions?>—M. C. A. Delaware has not yet enacted the old-age pension law. Indigent old per- sons are receiving pensions through the generosity of Alfred I. du Pont. Eleven hundred persons are said to be alded monthly. Pope’s Broadcast Suggests Need of Universal Language Need of some universal language for world-wide radio broadcasting is recog- nized by many who listened to the message of peace and good will, spoken by Pope Pius'd}:’l at ufie p\::'!.‘!can‘ l'gl: carried T to al of world, %lb the Latin employed eould be understood in part, a greater need of the general public is suggested. In- terest in the spoken words, however, is shown to have been very great, because of the unprecedented circumstances and the fact that all th> world listened. There was also historic importance, it is declared, in a_message of that char- acter from the Vatican. “Returns which came from the most remote countries,” says the Roehestr ‘Times-Union, “speak of the well-nigh perfect reception of the first broadeast from the Vatican. Even in distant South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, it is reported the words of the Pope came distinctly and clearly.” The Boston Transcript calls it “a most impressive event,” and holds that “such a me;uga of benediction, astonishingly transmitted by a miracle of science, can do no other than exemplary good to a troubled world.” “Pope Pius justified the comment that he is the most modern of the Pontiffs,” in the opinion of the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette, which feels that the message “brought him forth from a cloist:red position into active touch with the world,” ‘The Hartford Times declares: “To all it signalizes in a remarkable way a stage in the world's progress whi¢h has placed in the hands of reli- gious leadership a new, immensely potential means of assistance, the gift | s of secular achievement. Many look upon it as of prophetic meaning. For long it was believed that religion and scienes were antagonistic. Conviction Has grown that they shall be more and more mutually supporting and revealing as time proceeds.” * K x % “This was a landmark in worldwide broadcasting. It may be expected that radio development will go on and on, with new wonders years after year” predicts the Pasadena Star-News, while the Port Huron Times-Herald feels that this “unusual event emphasized the in- creasing new solidarity of the people of this rapidly shrinking world, who can now thus talk together so easily.” ‘The Indianapolis Star remarks that the event was “accentuated by the fact that the head of the Catholic Church leads a sequestered life withing the con- fines of the Vatican,” and that “his initial appearance before the miero- phone was an event of International importance. “The broadcast emphasized once more the need of a universal language, which can be understood by all na- tions,” says the Albany Evening News, A group of alienists was asked to pass upon the candidates for the office of mayor the other day, in view of the kind of campaigns they were carrying on. The sanity of the voters, however, might well be inquired into. * kK %y Out of Chicago comes a re) that Senator-elect “J. Ham"” Lewls is the candidate of the Illinois Democracy for the presidential nomination next year. Mr. Lewis won the senatorial election by 700,000 over his Republican oppo- nent, Mrs. Ruth Hanna McCormick. Some of his admirers seem to think that this makes him a presidential possibility. With former Senator “Jim" Reed of Missouri also anxious to get into the race for the Democratic nomi- nation for President, it looks as though | be the Middle West would not leave contest all to the Northeastern Democ- racy. It happens that both Lewis and Reed are wringing wet, so the Democrats of the South cannot look to them as their candidates. They may add, however, to the list of wet candidates for the presidential nomina- tion, thereby making a deadlock in the convention, at least for a number of ballcts, more ll‘lelz. e Senator Thomas J. Heflin of Ala- bama, who is about to file a contest John SRR fr) s Johy laying the ground for a against his colleague, Senator camj and similarly the New York World re- marks that “doubtless the radio will prove a valuable agent in smoothing out dialectic differences”; that “it may in time help us to set up the parlia- ment of man—in a long time.” That the radio will affect language is the be- lief of the Schenectady Gazette, which, however, estimtes it as “a matter of decades rather than of menths or years.” That paper continues, “There slowly will be developed in the various nations a really common tongue, one alike in all p'aces and understood with- out the slightest effort by all." “That such an utterance from so august a source should have been con- veyed instantaneously to dwellers even in the uttermost Lg.m of the sea may regarded as the crowning miracle, thus far, of man’s transmission of hu- man speech through the air by radio,” Who comes up for re-election next year. Senator B went over to the Bank- head forces in the last campaign. Heflin may have the same trouble getting permission of the State Demo- cratic to file as a Democrat in m rimary election e: “y‘ear zhnmfl it t thinks the New York Times. The Providence Journal points to the use of the “greatest broadcasting system ever 2 Dubuque 8 the Catholic Dally Tribune to the fact that “history “For multitudes who listened,” states the San Francisco Chronicle, “it was an impressive bridging of the centuries. They could visualize the dramatic set- i of medieval pomp whence came the clear, well rounded phrases of the wearer of the triple crown. The oldest of institutions was employing the most modern miracle of science $o make audible to the whole world the words of the papacy, which throughout his- tory has been a mystical and mysterious S figure. The Allentown Call sees the $ime when the Pope “will be able to com- municate privately with the leading churchmen throughout the world,” and the New Bedford Standard visions “the great men of the world speaking to the world in words that all their hearers can understand.” “The elassicists came into their own,” remarks the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, with the further comment on the event: “And our so-called intelligentsia, owr neo-intellectuals, if you , were in that predicament sometimes described as ‘out on a limb’ They didn't know a blessed word the Pope was saying. But the tattered remnant of educa- tion's old guard was present with su- periority oozing from every pore. Those 1 marches with , those flig] through the exordiums and perorations of Cicero, the stately ca- dences of Vergil's tale of love and war, the allegories of Ovid, the wine and the Iyrics of Horace out there on that ‘one dear Sabine farm'—well, those who trudged that weary way found their reward in listening to this papal mes- sage and translating it, with con- descension, to the illiterate who pooh- h the dead languages. ‘The glory at was Greece and the grandeur that Was Rome' are the possessions only of those who have communed with the masters in their native tongue.” “Classicists everywhere,” records the Jersey City Journal, “tuned in to hear the Pope whether they were members of the church or not. They had at last & chance, which has often existed in their imaginations, but seldom occurred in their experience, of hearing an im- ant message on current and eternal emes delivered in Latin.” Gratification that “Signor Marconi has added the ether to paper and ink as a means of conveying the ancient message, ‘Peace to the far and ce to the near,’” is voiced by the Balti- more Sun. The Cleveland News observes the freoedent of “bringing the voice of n(.lfim lnlr:l '"I:Ay:“;ut e” and “the relations] ween _Chris- mt}' and good citize; o by the Pope's words."” Daily Northwestern sees 1'1:::”?‘ m’nvu ?i‘ gflum of people, an lnfi( closer ;‘mfl“ t‘mmmmfil.ucd nations of the orld, an us, and po- litical clements of many omtmieer " Mathematical Modes. From ih;nrxw London Day. A headline says they are using geome- try in Paris to cut out evening gowns. e of the modern From some of the apparel it looks like it. A little simple ad with good effect. idition might be used Banking Methods, Too, Perhaps. rm'u’: ;:n;hu-mm Bvening Bulletin. In{w:o school in New Ymmhmmp: i methods over there. But not of them, it is to be hoped. Brilliant Berets. Prom the Kalamazoo Gasette. ti Democrat running as Style prophets say that liant hue Q'Dhmfihfi. fashional FETRE