Evening Star Newspaper, February 28, 1931, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY. . .February 28, 1931 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office 8t. and Pennsylvania Ave. 42nd e Shrovean Office: 14 Ensian Rate by Carrier Within the City. . 45c per month ar 60c per month ar +.65¢ per month 5c_per copy Collection made at the end of each month Orders may be sent in by mail or telephone NAtional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. 4 Sunday.....1yr.$10.00: 1 mo. 88 Daily and, Sunday.... 115 11000 1 mo: 6c Bindas "onty 1 §400; 1 mo . 40c All Other States and Canada. v aad Sunday . 1yr. $12.00° 1 mo.. $1.00 v Only . ......1yr. $8.00:1mo. 75¢ day only .. 1 $5.00; . 50c i Funy Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively evtitied to the use for republication of all news dis- patches credited o 1t or not otherwiss cred- ted in this paper and aiso the local news | published herein All rizhts of publication of special dispaiches herein are also reserved. ed. The Capper-Cramton Amendment. It will be most unfortunate if Con- gress adjourns without passing the Cepper-Cramton amendment to the George Washington Memorial Parkway act. Congress has already adopted the plan for park development, in co-opera- tion with the adjacent States of Mary- nia, outside of the limits rict of Columbia. As is generally known, this act provides for the participation by the Federal Gov- ernment and the States, on a fixed percentage basis, in the appropriations necessary to carry out such develop- ments as the George Washington Memorial Parkway. The amendment, which has been reported in both houses and which is on the unanimous consent calendars, provides that the Federal Government may immediately £pend $3,000,000 of its share of the cost without waiting for the actual appro- priation 0f the States’ shares by the State Legislatures. The amendment does not in any way increase the share to be borne by the Federal Government, but merely allows the Federal Government to spend now, | for the immediate acquisition of land, some of the money that it has already been pledged to spend later. The con- tingent provisions of the original meas- ure, which made the whole plan de- pendent upon State co--peration, are protected in the amendment by the fact that the Natinal Capital Park and Plan- ning Commission has be ‘t several proposals from responsible sources that guarantee payment by the States of half the cost. It is explained in the BSenate report on the amendment that the appropriation does not increase the total amount the Federal Government is to pay “but permits the purchase now with Federal funds of key prop- erties, the importance of which seems to justify their acquisition immediately. The provision made here and the lan- guage used is almost exactly similar to the provisions now granted the National Park Service under similar circum- stances.” ‘The Congress now coming to a close has played a great part in setting afoot the most comprehensive schemes for the extension of the Capital's park sys- tem ever undertaken. The realization of these schemes will require many years and the continued and sympa- thetic co-operation of succeeding ses- sions of Congress. But at this time any prolonged delay in obtaining some of the 1and necessary for this development, referred to in the Senate report as the “key properties,” may be fatal. Valu- able tracts may be lost that can only be regained through processes greatly ex- ceeding in cost the present purchase prices. For reasons of economy, for protection of the greater plans that will not mature for several years and. for the inspiration that lies in definite begin- nings, the Capper-Cramton amendment should be passed. And when it is con- sidered that the amendment implies no additional Federal responsibility and no increased commitments on the Federal ‘Treasury, it cannot logically be opposed. P Congress would be less subject to harsh criticism if it were not in duty bound to be on hand when appropri- | ations are required in connection with | the Nation's affairs. e Nobody appears to derive genuine en- joyment from repeated apologies to Mussolini; not even Mussolini himself. ————— Capone and Volpe. Some time next Surgmer, perhaps, Alphonse Capone will go to jail for a period of six months. It is not certain, however, e en though he was yesterday sentenced to such a term for contempt of court. Being on bail at the time and having a right of appeal, he walked out of the court room in Chicago with his usual swagger, and, setting his natty hat jauntily upon his head, once outside of the doors he remarked: “Well, we’ll see what another court will do.” E-retofore Mr. Capone has had chiefly to o with State courts. He has little fear of them. Now, however, he is| dealing with the Federal courts, and | that is znother proposition altogether. Perhaps ‘the “other court” will be as hard-boilzd, in Mr. Capone’s language, as the one that gave him his sentence vesterday. The case is fairly clear. He undlrtook to defy the court by refusing to attend on summons in his income tax case and then pleading liness and pre- senting evidence of his physical inca- pacity to obey subpoena. It was then demonstrated that he was at the time in perfect health, not at all incapaci- tated, and was therefore guilty of con- tempt. For that he must go to jail as soon as the appeals are exhausted. It is rather ridiculous that the only way that this flagrant violator of the laws, acknowledged leader of a criminal gang, beneficlary of graft and loot gained by crime, can be hooked in pun- ishment is by side issues and on minor charges. e once served a short term in prison—for carrying a pistol! That ‘was in another jurisdiction than the one within which he has made his for- tune by banditry. ‘There is still hanging over Capone “%3 Pederal charge of evasion of the tncome tax law, for which, if finally convicted, he may be sent away for a long period. Even so, the law is at fault in not getting him for the crimes by mecens of which he amassed a suffi- matter of moment, to him and to the' ‘Government. But there is some consolation that!| even in a little way the law is reaching Capore. It is the more gratifying in that this sentence to jail coincides with &n order for the deportation of Tony Volpe, Capone’s first lieutenant and guard. Volpe's case is a peculiar one. Evil as his career has been in this coun- try, he could be reached for deportation only through a technicality. Some years ago he was convicted of counter- feiting and served time. He was then immune from deportation because he had been for a sufficient time a resident of the United States. But three years ! ago he went to Cuba, and on his return {he became subject to the deportation | law on the ground that prior to his| latest entry into the country he had been convicted of a crime involving ! moral turpitude. He was just the same | Tony Volpe who had been jogging along in Chicago banditry ever since his con- | viction. But his lapse of residence put ! him on a new status and hence he be- came subject to the “turpitude” clause of the law. So now he goes out. if the | order just issued is sustained, which it probably will be. There is too much red tape and there are too many legal delays in the han- dling of these cases. Capone shculd | long ago have been put behind bars | {for a period sufficiently protracted to | ! protect society from his depredations. ! Vo'pe should long ago have been sent | out of the country as an undesirable |alien, and there are many others who | should receive swift justice, for the sake of the country. i ) Organizing the Next Congress. ‘Threats to bolt their party in the or- ganization of the House and Senate in the next Congress have gcne up from disgruntied Republican members of both bodies. When the Republicans of the House met in party caucus Thursday night it was found that | about eighteen of the members who will sit in the Sevent ond Congress were absent, Rumors have been spread that the absentees, or a part of them, 1 might decline to vote for Speaker Longworth's re-election and for the re- election of Majority Leader Tilson. ‘The probabilities are, however, that| both Speaker Longworth and Col. Til- son will be found occupying their pres- {ent offices in the House organization when the next Congress gets down to work. Only one member of the House, Representative McGugin of Kansas, is reported actually to have declared that he will vote for Representative Garner of Texas, the Democratic leader of the House, when the speakership fight comes on. Party bolters in matters of organiza- | tion usually do not find themselves pop- ular, either with their old friends of | the parties to which they have given, allegiance in the past or with the mem- | bers of the opposition to whom they have turned in their wrath. There is no reason to believe that the Democrats will welcome with open arms Mr. Mc- Gugin of Kansas, or any other Repub- licans, in the organization of the next House. If the Democrats had elected a | majority of the House in the last elec- | tion, they would quite naturally go ahead and elect a Speaker in the next Congress. But the election returns showed that 218 Republicans had been chosen, 216 Democrats and 1 Farmer- Labor member, giving the Republicans a majority, though by a narrow margin. Democratic members of the House say quite frankly that they have no desire to hook up with disgruntled Republic- ans in the selection of the next Speaker. If they did, they would never be sure that the control was in their hands. The Republican deserters would be in a position to upset their apple cart at any time. It is quite concelvable that enough Democrats will be absent when the roll is called to permit the election of a Republican Speaker, even though there are “bolters” from the Longworth ticket on the G. O. P. side. It is conceivable that a group of dis- gruntled Republicgn members of the House might place in nomination for Speaker one of their own number. Such a move might bring about a deadlock in the selection of a Speaker. A Speak- er can be elected only by a majority vote in the House. The House has faced such deadlocks in the past. In the Senate tne Republicans have just 48 seats in the next Con- gress, or one-half. The Democrats have one less, and the Farmer-Labor party, one. Despite this almost even division, politically, the Republicans are expected to organize the Senate. Should two Republican Senators dle in States which now have Democratic Governors, who, by appointment, could bring the Demo- cratic membershi of the Senate up to 49, an actual majority, another face would be placed upon the situation. | Under those conditions the Democrats | might, and probably would, go ahead | and organize the Senate, although it | has been obvious that some of the Democratic leaders are averse at this time to take control of either house of | Congress, fearing that they might be | heid responsible, in part, if affairs went badly in the country. There is an impelling factor in hold- ing members of Congress in line in matters of organization. The party which organizes gets the big plums in the matter of committee assignments. The insurgent Republicans of the Senate, some of whogy are chairmen !and others high ran®Mg members of standing committees, have no desire to relinquish these places to the Demo- crats. Furthermore, a general election | follows the next session of Congress, & | fact which will tend to tighten party lines in the organization of the houses of Congress. | vt Great commercial programs are an- nounced by Stalin, but it is generally agreed that he is not enough of a busi- ness man to “sell” Communism to the world. —t—— The New York World. Ancther newspaper landmark in New York City has disappeared with the suspension of publicaticn of the World. Friday morning was printed the final | THE EVENING STAR, been continued and the Herald has been united with the Tribune, its name appearing in hyphenate conjunction with that of its absorber. It is now arranged that the Evening World will be blended with the Telegram, as part of the property of the chain of news- papers that made the purchase from the Pulitzer estate. ‘The World has always been an in- teresting newspaper and at times it has been a powerfully influential one. Under the direct editorship of the late Joseph Pulitzer, who acquired the paper in 1883, after it had had a financially troubled career, it became a colorful and enterprising journal. Mr. Pulitzer's polizies of publication were unique anu .t times he startled his reader community with his innova- tions and ventures into what were at the time regarded as sensationalism. Viewed in the light of later develop- ments in this line the World of that period was conservative by comparison. Since Joseph Pulitzer's death the ‘World has carried on by the momentum of its own force under the direction of his sons. But circumstances and conditions were changing and eventual- ly difficuities arose, losses were entailed and eventually the publication of the paper became a drain upon the estate, which was charged by Joseph Pulitzer's will to retain possession and to continue publication. He could nc’ foresee the developments that brougit about the disaster to the fortunes of the news- paper. Now the prohibition against the sale of the paper has been set aside, upon the petition of the heirs, and the paper passes to other owners, to be merged and virtually suspended. In the course of the nearly seventy ars of its existence the New York Werld was contributed to by mauy ot the best known of American journal- ists and cartoonists. It had engaged the services of a brilllant staff of writers. It was an influence in Demo- cratic party affairs and a force for good citizenship. Its passing is to be regretted, for despite all the changes that have taken place in the decades of its life it remained an interesting and a worthy exponent of American journalism. B e An explicit understanding is men- ticned to the effect that when the bonus act was passed, the matter was to be considered closed and no enlargement would be undertaken. The “closed inci- dent” is frequently mentioned in public affairs. It seldom exists as a positively guaranteed fact. Even “free silver” is being hinted at as a reopened issue. —_— It has been many years since Joseph Pulitzer labored to build a great news- paper. Interest in its sale and partial retirement from the jourhalistic field is so great as to‘constitute a remarkable tribute to A man whose genius com- bined the shrewdest business perception with the highest professional ideals. S The Prince of Wales as he matures appears to enjoy business talks with representative citizens, happy in the fact that the agreeable younger brother Prince George is proving abundantly qualified to give social satisfaction as a dancing partner. O Wall Street is mentioned frequently in terms of especial disparagement, al- though it is evident in all parts of the country that it is not the New York Stock Exchange alone that offers | tempting facilities for impetuous spec- | ulation. ——————— Ramsay MacDonald greeted Charlie Chaplin, but did not risk sacrificing the spctlight entirely by making engage- ments to go walking with the comedian in public. R ey sif()orma STARS, BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Wanderlust. Now, why complain, My valued friend, As cares again ‘Themselves extend? S-me subtle plot Seems going far— But have you not A motor car? Affairs behave In manner queer. Exhorters rave With words severe. Some stocks have got Less worth than par— But have you not A motor car? ‘The road is white. ‘The skies are blue. The time seems right To start anew For some bright spot ‘Where pleasures are; And have you not A motor car? An Evolutionist. “We must admit,” said Senator Sor- ghum, “that in the course of financial evolution, the merger is capable of ef- fecting much benefit.” “Were you ever a trust buster?” “Long ago. Iam now a trust booster.” Jud Tunkins says a political job keeps & man working so hard to get it and to hold on to it that he may have lol lose sleep trying to keep up with its regular duties. February Reminde: George Washington the truth would tell. His worth is ne'er forgot. But in preparing books to sell, Blographers would not. No Great Compliment. “He says you are as pretty as a pic- ture.” “No great compliment,” remarked Miss Cayenne, “considering the pictures they draw in ultra-modernistic studios.” “A man who is happy in heart,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “may lift & sad voice in order to conceal his happiness from those who might envy and seek to destroy it.” | number of that paper, founded in 1860 property having been sold to another in- terest and in part merged and its identity virtually lost. Thus within a comparatively few years New York has lost three of its famous morning news- papers, considered as definite journal- istic integers, the Sun, the Herald and now the World. These have not completely niched in respect to their cicat foriyne to make his xnconu. tax a names, however. The Evening Sun has and issued continuously ever since, the) In the Drug Store. Doctor, dear Doctor, Prescribe for my need— A delicate sandwich And something to read. “If you kin mind yoh own affairs” WASHINGTON, THIS AN BY CHARLES E. Where are all the people on the| streets going? This is a question which some of us| are not able to answer to our own sat- isfaction. It is easy enough to give glib re-| lies, such as, “Oh, they are going ome!” or “They are going to office,” or “They are going some place just as you are.” | These solutions are true enough, but they do not begin to touch the nub of | the question, composed of these thou- sands upon thousands of human beings, | endlessly streaming somewhere. No doubt the city has grown be-| yond us. Maybe those of us who sometimes stand gawking on street corners, watch- ing the hundreds of automobiles go down Thirteenth street, or along Six- | teenth street, or Connecticut avenue during the rush hours—maybe we are | small town, by birth and heritage. i We have not lost the capacity for | wonder, in other words. | * K ox K | 1t is said that no man can count a | million, and if there is a vestige of truth in that, perhaps it is no wonde: that we cannot altogether grasp half a million people. New York would only be more of the same thing, more people, more cars more jamming, more confusion refuse to bow to the immensity of New York, | All of Manhattan’s millions are | streaming to work and back to their | homes again, that is all. It is the old process, endlessly repeated, on dry, cold | mornings, and wet mornings, and gloomy mornings. and at dusk, and for the theater and back home again, till there remains in our provincial minds & mental refusal to accept them all. They are too many of them! We would prefer to kuow the baker by name, and to be able to call the ban! Jim, and the butcher John, or mayb: Jack. | As it is, all we can do is stand on the corner and watch them go by. We rec- ognize the baker, because his name is on his wagon; we know the banker be- | cause we sce him enter his building, and there can be no mistaking him— | he looks every inch a banker: as for the butcher, he slides by in his small car, with several rounds of beef hang- ing perilously over the door. | x o % ok In a modern city there is a vacuum in many minds and hearts created by the inability to know personally more than a small per centum of the total | populaticn. | This feeling will never exist in the | self-satisfied man or woman who somehow feels that Nature rather out- did jtself with them. There are thou- sands of these persons, of course. Per- haps they are to be congratulated. | But we have to do here with the man, or woman—and there are many thousands of this type, toc—who is | interested in everything he sees, and in all the human beings he meets. To such a person the stream of peo- ple on the streets is an endless drama a veritable moving picture, replete with color, life and interest. It is & film with the flicker left out, a reel without end, as it seems without beginning. The difference is that the - crowd goes all ways a‘ once, and has thousands of beginnings and thousands of endings. | o It is interesting to stand on a down- town corner and watch them go by ‘This is one of the good points of the public transit lines, that one may, while waiting fcr bus or car, have | time to study the crowds. | Thus no time is lost. Even those | who have not imbibed the modern doc- | trine of the “loss of time” are more | or less affected by it, and feel better, | everything taken into consideration, if they have not violated its precepts. ‘When one ,is waiting for a public| Highlights on the Excerpts From Telegraph’s = Liverpool corre- spondent by a man recently sent back from Canada who asserts that the Dominion government is being duped wholesale by deportees. | “It must not be supposed.” sald the man, “that we deportees who are not in bad health are a wicked lot. I have come across some clever lads who are! beating the Canadian government ai ! its own game. 4 | “Canada is making a convenience of | emigrants, and, therefore, she must not. be surprised if she finds the boot on the other foot,” he added. “I know of concrete cases where the deportees are laughing up their sleeves. In my own batch of deportees was one man supposed to be penniless who charged nearly $500 (£100) into English money on ths trip. | “This type of deportee, who comes home at the expense of the Canadian | government, is what you might call an Atlantic gate-crasher. “He wants to get away from the hard- | ship of the Canadian Winter and home for Christmas. In addition he wants to | see his old friends, and in particular the girl of his heart, and all this he wants to do as cheaply as possible. “Therefore he hits a Canadian police- man on the nose, or pushes his fist through a thop window pane and get himself arrested. The result is a few | d"n'fi' imprisonment followed by deporta- | tion. “Thus he gets all he desires, including a free passaz> back to Britain and his wad of dollar noges is preserved intact.” X ¥ Gen. Ludendorff Predicts World-Wide War in 1932, Le Matin, Paris—The German Gen. Ludendorff hes just published a sensa- | ional pamphlet entitled, “The New Threat of World-Wide W The gen- eral even sets the date for the opening of this new conflict. It is May 1, 19 and will be precipitated by a break b tween Italy and France with, her Eu- | ropean allies, including_Czechoslovakia, | Poland and Belgium. In Germany an | anti-government_activity will be fos- tered by Adoloh Hitler and the Nation- | 1-Socialists, whom Gen. Ludendorff as- | sails as Itallan propagandists in Ger many, and controlled from Italy by the Fascist party. | The general describes France and Italy as being at swords' points on| many material issues. This enmity, he declares, will undoubtedly kindle ‘an- other European conflagration not lawr‘ than the date he sets. In this revival | of all horrors of war, Gen. Ludendorfl | predicts that Germany will be the focal | center, and that France and Italy will settle ‘their quarrel upon her sofl. In the strife, Germany will be obliged to adhere to Taly, through the force of the | Fascist movement now establishing it- | self in the Fatherland through the po- | litical maneuvers of men like Kapp and | Hitler, and_so. instead of France, will become a battlefield of Europe which | will make the late sanguinary sacrifice of humen life appear but a minor cas- | ualty. In the end France will win | the victory, but it will be but a Pyrrhic:| one, for, while Germany and Italy will be effaced as_political unities on the | continent of Europe, the physical and moral exhaustion of the attacking na- tions will leave them as prostiate as the vanquished. Such is the dismal picture the gen- | eral paints. Heaven forbid that such a foreboding be made true! And yet his | arguments, in which, detail by detail, | he builds up the form of so dreadful an | apparition, do not sound fantastic. Gaz- ing about at all our international trou- bles, every day becoming less capable of said Uncle Eben, “you is gotter look out f¢h people dat sizes you as a willin' worker an’ wants to merge deir business wif youre.” % ~ i settiement or_ solution, it does appear indeed that “Weltkrieg Droht!” (“World War Threatens” -i. e, the name of the sforczald pamphlel). | there are | spectators, | come from not? D. "€, D THAT SATURDAY, F TRACEWELL. vehicle, there is nothing else to do but kick one’s heels against the curb and watch the endless stream of people, both afoot and in cars. The pedestrians | are by far the most interesting. Motorists are submerged in their cars, literally and figuratively. Many a man in what is popularly known as a “swell car” is entirely secondary in popular interest to his vehicle. The man on his own feet is mot so0. He has no glittering machine to take away from his identity, no shiny chromium to compete with™ his face, or mechanical gadgets to attract before him. * X % ¥ The pedestrian, too, is more of a mystery. not only because there is so many “of him. but also because his | ultimate destination is more shrouded n_mystery, His pace, for one thing, enables the bystander fo get a better look at him, and thus to wender more largely about him. Has he a home. and is he going to it? Is he married? Does he live at a club? What manner of man is he? | The man in a car is only an adjunct | at wheel, he excites pcrhaps smaller interest than the shape of the hood of his car. Bui this fair face beneath this small | hat, bonnet, or whatever vou chovse to call it, aftracts the attenfion for its own fair s * oK k% It is not an easy fecling to analyze. this sense of loss in the face of the streams of pedestrian traffic. As we have indicated, meny do not feel it, and such no doubt will wonder about it. and especially why it exists, They may even question its ex's! nee Its_anal is_less Interesting than its effect. e latter will insure that iis vietim will spend many minttes looking at crowds, and aciively wonde! ing about them, even while he reali: that they are composed of human be- ings essentially like himself. He may have been walking along, utterly un- conscious of his fellow pedestrians, wiien suddenly he will realize that he is no longer *a part of a motion, but a spec- tator of a motion, a flow of human be- ings. He is the spectator, and the rest are the show. Slyly looking around him, he realizes that his role is not unique, that hundreds of thousands of too, and that each one is contemplating the same mystery, and wondering where all these people have and where they are going, and, above all, why don't they go there? The answer is always the absurd yet startling one, “Why, they are going there, as fast as they can!” There can be little doubt of that. In the streets they are rushing needlessly on their various ways, attempting to get the jump on the signal lights at the cross- ings, n at the hazard of their own es. The few scconds gained will mean nothing in their lives, for they have plenty of time, but the rush to get ahead of somebody else is a part of their characters, and cannot be la just because they are on whee: The pedestrian, our onlo is not in quite such a hurry, He does not relish a collision with another pedestrian, because he realizes that a full-fledged bumping may secure a fine nice thumping, and that he will deserve it. The slight brushes which every one in sidewalk traffic indulges in cannot be cailed collisions. They demonstrate the flexibility of foot traffic, for a brush of the elbow does not ordinarily result in a broken fender or dented hood! The crowds of the city streets, wheth- er on foot or awheel, are among the oldest group manifestations of man. No doubt centuries ago in ancient cities, now only memories, men gathered and moved on to mysterious places, while other men stood and watched them, and wondered at the process and the mov- ing, even as we do today. Wide World r realizes, ewspapers of Other Lands | ELFAST TELEGRAPH.—A re- markable story is told to the Shopkeeper Protests Excessive Store Rents. The Evening Post, Wellington (Letter to the Editor).—Sir: “Retailer's” letter in your issue of 21st October draws at- tention to the critical position of hun- dreds. He is also one of the many who are paying excessive rents, enough when times are good and im- possible to pay with trade as it is. The question is, Will our landlords rcalize the position and give us some relief or When I mention the fact that sales have dropped 20 per cent to 50 per cent in practically every trade, one will realize what a struggle shop tenants are having to pay their rent and wages. Nearly every wise landlord leaves his tenant to pay the rates, knowing that they will increase year by year. There- fore, the burden of the heavy rates falls on the man least able to bear it. Like a flock of sheep, the tenants leave it to the Employers’ Assoclation to protect their interests. Our Labor Councilors make matters worse by sup- porting wasteful loans, while the em- ployers are sacking hands in trying to reduce expenses. “Retailer” mentions. electric light. Does he know that light ing shops are double the Christchurc rates? Do our Labor Councilors know, when gloating over the £59,000 surplus profit last year, that while the bulk of our lighting and heating household charges are 1 penny a unit, we pay. 2 pence @ unit to heat our work rooms and run our motors to try and provide employment? And so it goes on. We delude ourselves that everything is rosy, sack our hands, go without our own salary, while a slight readjustment of everything would restore the confidence we must have. All parties are shirking the issue and will pay the piper for doing so. I am, etc. SHOPKEEPER. Kansas City’s Program. From the St. Louis Post-Dispateh. Realizing that piecemeal civic devel- opment and hit-and-miss planning can- not keep up with the growih of & mod- e metropolis, Kansas City has put forward a 10-year plan of construction, Atter eight months of work a Citizens' Committee of 1000 members has brought forth a program calling for & bond issue of $30,000,000 by the city and of $8,450,000 by Jackson County. The proposal now goes to the city council and the County Court prelimi- | nary to the calling of a bond election, tentatively set for May 12. In many respects the Kansas City program follows the broad outline of the $87,000,000 project voted by St. Touis in 1923 and now nearing comple- tion. It allots $4.000,000 each year for a clty hall and court house, $4,500,000 for & municipal auditoriu 500,000 for street improvements, 0,000 for improving water supply facilities, $2, 750,000 for parks and playgrounds and $2,000,000 for hospitals. Other items include a new city market, a_ stadium, new police district stations, flood pre tection, sewers, airport improvements nd county rond work. Kansas City will find, just as St. Louis has now discovered, that even after conspleting such an ambitious pro- gram the city cannot afford to call a holiday in progress and rest on its laurels. As our own 10-year program nears completion there awakens reali- zation of the city’s needs for a fresh atiack on such problems as river-front improvement, city lighting, additional street development, grade separations, outer parks and added hospital facilities Our neighboring Missouri metropo'is will show commendable civic spirit by | adopting the program its committee has prepared e such progressive move- men's are started. the visible benefits will inepire iueir thorzugh gomple! !lhlnw in the first and third of these jriety of vocational subjects given by EBRUARY 28, 1931. THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover College presidents, as well as others interested in higher education, ha been roading Dr. Abraham Flexner's “Universities, American, English, Ger- man,” and most of them are not alto- gether happy over what they find in this new book, which is an expansion of three lectures given at Oxford Uni: versity in 1928 by the former educa- tional expert of the General Education Board. The author, after first setting forth in his opening chapter on “The Idea of a University” his thought of the scope and functions proper to uni- versities, examines the institutions of the three countries, German universi- ties come nearest to satisfying him; those of Great Britain come next. American universities lack much of measuring up to his standards and are doing many things which he holds up to scorn and ridicule. s i Some hint of Dr. Flexner's idea of what a university should be and do may be given by extracts: “A modern uni- versity would then address itself whole- heartedly and unreservedly to the ad- | vancement of knowledge, the study of problems, from whatever source they may come, and the training of n * * * The pursuit of science and scholarship belongs to the universi What else belongs there? Assurediy neither secondary. technical, vocational nor popular education, Of course, these are important; of course, society must create appropriate agencies to deal with them; but they must not be permitted to distract the university.” In applying these tests to American universities he first gives briefly full credit to the amazing advances made in American institutions since the establishment of the Johns Hoy University in 1876. Having made this meager concession, he | concentrates his attention on the most highly developed and prominent insti- tutions and he finds much in them to criticize. He says that most of them are ccmpesed of three parts: “Second- ary schools and colleges for boys and 1s, graduat> and professional schools for advanced students and ‘service’ sta- tions for the general public.” Accord ing to his standards, practically every- parts is inappropriate to the university. Most of what is taught in the first two or more years of college he thinks should be included in a good high school. The author is severely critical of the vocational courses that form so large & part not simply of the graduate instruction of universities, but of their undergraduate courses as well. Espe- clally scathing is he in condemnation of correspondence courses in a wide va- some of the most prominent of Ameri- can universities. * kK K Reverting to Dr. Flexner's statement of standards, after excluding the tech- nical and the vocational from his uni- versity, he says that of the profes- sicnal faculties a clear case can, he believes, be made for law and medi- cine, but not for denominational re- ligion. which involves a bias, nor prob- ably for education, journalism, domes- tic science, or library science, But at |once he gives his case away by ad- mitting that “it is true that most phy- sicians and most lawyers are mere craftsmen; it is even true that their training largely occuples itself with teaching them how to do things. should go further. I should add that an unproductive faculty of law or medicine is no whit the better for | being attached to a university; it has no business there; it would do as well by society and by its students if it were an independent vocational school.” Is it not true that a very high per- centage of the work now done, or v likely to be done, this side of the mil- lennijum in law and medical schools attached to universities is vocational in purpose and content, and so should be excluded under Dr. Flexner’s stand- ards? He, therefore, has left no actual Jaw or medical school theoretical, non-existir. the case which. he claims, is so clear for law and medicine is not clear at all. i e If it is permitted to differ from a distinguished educational expert the opinion is ventured that Dr. Flexner's fundamental mistake is in putting the ban on vocational education, as part of a university. Law and medicine have always been recognized as pro- fessions, and the education and train- ing given for them in universities has of necessity been largely vocational in scope. What has helped to make them professional is the fact that under best conditions the vocational training has been given to men with a sound background of cultural education and the vocational training has served to strengthen and deepen that culture. If one is right in removing Dr. Flex- ner's ban from subjects that have long been considered as professions or as- pire to be such, then it is perhaps proper to restore theology as a uni- versity subject, to admit education and to be hospitable toward business, jour- nalism, domestic science and library science. * ok ok *x Dr. Flexner devotes a generous para- graph of praise of American university libraries and quotes an English au- thority on their resources and organiza- tion " By way of contrast with the present, he points out that half a cen- tury ago, roughly speaking, America was practically without libraries, and illustrates by citing the earlier experi- ence of Yale: “It is less than 60 years since Daniel C. Gilman, destined soon to be president of Johns Hopkins Uni- versity, resigned the librarianship of Yale University, because he could not obtain an assistant and had to light the fire in the stove every morning. No staff of experts, no central heat- ing—a stove iire, in a combustible building, so recently as that.” ¥ kghk The rich old Duke of Leominster, living in the medieval pile of Moulton Castle, on the Welsh Marches, is the subject of Stephen McKenna's novel “The Cast-Iron Duke.” The duke is a domestic tyrant who terrorizes every one except his granddaughter-in-law, Perhaps because she is half an she is not at all afraid of him; is she a pacifist, for she quarrels with him constantly. The question over which they quarrel most acutely is the education of Moyra's two sons. She does not consider that the old duke's educa- tional ideas have been justified by the results obtained in the cases of his son and his grandson, Moyra's father-in-law ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Stop & minute and think about this fact. You can ask our Information Bu- reau any question of fact and get the answer back in a personal letter. It is a great educational idea introduced into the lives of the most intelligent people in the world—American newspa readers. It i pose of & newspaper—service. stamps for return postage. habit of asking questions. Address your Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. - Q. How many motion picture houses in the world are equipped for sound?— R.C A, The Department of Commerce says that the United States has 12,500: Eu- Tope, 5.401; Far East, 905; Latin Ame: ica, 527; Canada, 450; Africa, 110; Ne: East, 1 Q. What is the probability of a cou- ple’s celebrating the golden wedding anniversary?—H. R A. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. says that it depends upon the ages of the busband and wife at the time of marriage. If the girl is 20 and the young man 25, the chances are 1 In 6. If their marriage occurs 10 years later, the chances are 1 in 40. ler been in the Marine Ccrps? %, 3 A. He was appointed to the Marine Corps in 1899 and promoted through the ranks to colonel. In 1921 he was made a brigadier general. During 1924 and 1925 he was given leave of absence from the corps to serve as director of safety in Philadelphia. During the World War he served in France with great distinetion, and he is the only o Congressional Medals of Honor. . What 1Is the size of the Cleveland Airport>—J. H. F. A. Cleveland has 1,000 acres of han- gars and landing field in her airport. Q. What is meant by the “will to power”?—J. 8. A. Bertrand Russell says that the main urge of childhood is the “will to power”—in other words, the desire to become an adult. Although this is not the sole sourceé of children's play, it shows in the play in two forms. The first consists in learning to do things, the second in fantasy or make-believe. Q. Is the “The Divine Lady” living?—H. A" Mrs. L. Adams-Beck, who wrote under the name of E. Barrington, died in Japan recently. Q. How does a man become super- intendent of a national cemetery?— A. The War Department sayvs that the superintendents of national cem- eteries are chosen only from ex-service men who have been disabled, and that men who qualify in such 4 way for this position must first serve a probation service of six months in order to establish their fitness for the position. Q. What is Spencer’s theory of evo- lution?—D. P. A Spencer finds that throughout the universe there is an unceasing re- distribution of matter and motion and that redistribution constitutes evolution when there is a predominant integra- tion of matter and dissipation of mo- author o D. per | a part of that best pur- | There is | no charge except 2 cents in coin or (YOr which set the Roman ships on fire Get the | When they were within a bowshot of Q. Hew long has Gen. Smedley But- | f‘the Continental Congress tion, and constitutes dissolution where there is a predominant absorption of motion and disintegration of matter, Q. In what war was a Roman fleet destroyed by means of & mirror?—K, W, A. During the siege of Syracuse in the Second Punic War, Archimedes is said to have constructed a burning mir- the wall. It is probable that Archime- letter to The Evening Star Information | f’;‘fi had constructed some such burn. i | 1t g instrument, but the connection af with the destruction of the Rerina | fleet is more than doubtful. . How many districts are there in the Lighthouse Service?—P. A. 8. A. The Lighthouse Service is divided into 19 marine districts and 2 airway districts. Q. Are children apt to get lead poi- | soning from putting their toys in their mouths?>—D. B A. The Public Health Service has had cccasional cas called to its at- tention. It is likely that more cases occur than become known. Children with perverted appetites would be par- ticularly likely to encounter the hazard. Though lead paint has wide fields of usefulness, the painting of babies’ toys and cribs i$ not one of them. Generaily manufacturers of these articles are see- ing to it that lead paint is not used for this purpose, but warning is necessary that pavents, especially in repainting cribs, &hould use paints which are free from lead, namely, quick-drying lacquers or enamels sold for interior use. . What Insect bite caused the death | ot Lord Carnarvon?—V. H. | A. Howard Carter says that & mos- quito bit the archeologist and that the | wound “got poisoned. American officer to have been awarded | Q. Who was the first president of —F. J. P, A. Peyton Randolph of Virginia, was elected September 5, 1774. | . Q. What is the name of the man who | is > internaticnal figure-skating champlon?—B. A. A. He s Karl Schafer of Vienna, Austria. Q. What were FPrench spoliation claims?—G, P. A. They were demands upon the United States Government by American merchants_for losses of ships and cargoes between 1793 and 1800 at the hands of the French, whose chief excuse for the depredations was that the United States had violated its pledges to France under the treaty of 1778. By the treaty of September 30, 1800, and by the con- vention of April 30, 1803, France re- leased the United States from certain treaty obligations, and in return was re- leased from paying the merchants’ claims. Between 1800 and 1885 about 50 bills to reimburse the claimants or their descendants came before Congress. Appropriations were twice voted, but | were vetoed. In 1885 redress was ob- | tained when the adjudication of the | claims was given to the Court of Claims, and decisions were reached awarding | some $4,800,000 to the petitioners. Q. After Jefferson Davis was arrested, indicted for treason and admitted to bn;:l vfi:y ;‘vzre the proceedings quashed? A. On Christmas day, 1868, President | Johnson proclaimed a pardon for all ' hitherto unpardoned participants in the - | Civil War. This included Davis, who thus became a free man. . C. He Vigorous debate on the subject of Federal Farm Board policies follows the announced retirement of Chairman Alexander Legge and some of his asso- ciates in the organization, Much at- tention is given to the appraisal of the services of Mr. Legge revealing sharp differences of opinion as to the value of the work. Favorable comments credit the board with a contribution to mar- keting methods. “Mr. Legge was selected for his job, according to the New York Sun, cause he is a business man who knew farming, an executive acquainted with rural conditions, a financier sound, but not hard-boiled. In that job he has led a dual life; the exigencies of an im- possible task have led him into deals concemned by his judgment, but con- doned by act of Congress. He will leave the ungenial atmosphere of public life with the Farm Board almost smothered in wheat, the United States Govern- ment in the market up to the flag on the Capitol dome, Congress dissatisfied, the farmer-politicians unappeased- and the business community bewildered.’ “Some solid accomplishments” are seen by the St. Paul Dispatch, “such as solidifying of the co-operative move- ment and the rescue of agriculture from the consequences of the more complete price collapse that took place else- where.” The Dispatch feels that “much of this success has been due to the en- ergy and courageous determination of Mr. Legge” The Chattanooga Times assumes that “if the American people shall, because of the disappointing re- sults of the relief undertaking, lose some of their faith in and reliance upon the power of government to work wonders, the experiment to date will not hav been in vain.” That paper concedes that “conditions might have been worse if it had not been for the board,” and advises, “Overproduction at home against’ the advice of Chairman Legge, overproduction abroad and a general deflation movement were factors which neither Chairman Legge nor any other man, the Federal Farm Board nor any other agency, governmental or private, could have overcome.” * * Statements by Samuel R. McKelvie, one of the retiring members, are quoted by the Roanoke Times, particularly one that the board “does not regard emer- gency stabilization operations as some- thing that can be lightly or frequently resorted to.” The Times states further, t is pointed out that the board does not believe that any agency, either public or private, can Permanently stay the operation of natural laws.” The Erie Dispatch-Herald holds that “these and husband, who are rather degenerate specimens of aristocracy. A The tale of a woman’s life, told by her daughter to her granddaughter, forms the story of “The Longer Day,” by the author of “Miss Tiverton Goes Out.” men have performed a valuable service in instructing farm interests on the benefits to be secured from co-operation and in pointing out the futility of add- ing increased production to an already excessive supply of commoditie: ‘What Mr. Legge did was to ‘take a flier,”” thinks the Rock Island Argus. The method of telling is involved, the stogy is pileced together from bits, but the suspense is well preserved and the end is unexpected. Brenda, the grand- mother, was an individualistic person who lived 1n her own mind and found almost her only companionship in her idiot child. Her husband and her eldest daughter were Victorian _intellectuals and to Brenda seemed very tame and even ridiculoy The characters are perhaps rather shacowy and stand for ideas instead of being realities. * ok ok ok e publication of Vincent B. Care and Repair of the Home" the publishers are beginning a series of practical handbooks on every phase of the American home, to be known as “The American Home Library.” This first volume is devoted tothe upkeep and repair of every part of a house from the basement to the roof. The book sup- plies answers to the thousand and one problems with which every home owner is faced. From leaxs faucets to defec- tive foundas walls, from pounding radiators to locks that won't lock, there “If he had won, he would have been hailed as a financial wizard. It is no discredit to him that he didn't win. Maybe it was worth more than the board spent to make the experiment. Mr. Legge put in his best licks. Let| that be remembered to his credit.” The Yakima Daily Republic sees “a gesture that had to be made to satisfy certain factions that it was futile “The chairman’s plain speaking.” ac- cording to the New York Evening Post, “added to the criticism of the board’s actlvities, particularly in his attempt to stabilize the grain market, but many of his critics were willing to admit that the board contributed materially to the rehabilitation of agriculture.” Although | recognizing “bitter opposition” as af- fecting the retirement of the chairman, the Walla Walla Bulletin contends that the board “has just begun its work and is far from through with the program which it undertook.’ “It is probable, the opinion the Oakland Tribune. “‘that Mr. Legge's efforts have hastened the time when the wheat farmers will be organized and educated in ways to cope with the is no question left unanswercd by Mr. Phelan. .. Not Even Close Harmony. From the New Bedford Evening Standard. ‘The harmony in Congress, inaugu- rated after the last election, grows worze and worce problems of world markets. As a unit they Teduce g &S individuals they hitve refused. Th its stabili- zation’ corporation the boaWg has taken in hand a great stock of wheat in the face of world overproductior and has pegged the American price bove successful, tionally unselfish spir'y and that is more Farm Board Made Subject Of Debate as Members Quit the country would like to see them get, but they have fared better than they would had there been no Farm Board in the fleld.” That members of the board “have done their best to make a go of the administration’s plan of agricuitural re- lief few deny.” says the Atlanta Jour= nal; “that they have succeeded still fewer maintain. Figs cannot be gath- ered from thistles. Certainly the rank and file of farmers are no better off. Instead the markets for their products are, in the main, more depressed, the returns from their capital and labor more meager. Whatever the excuses and explanations, the fact remains that the promise to place agriculture on ‘an eco=- nomic equality with other industries’ has come vmu:uy' to naught.” * * ‘As for the man in the cotton busi- ness,” argues the New Orleans Times- Picayune, “the Farm Board policies have taken away & part of his estabe lished trade, but supply and demand went on just the same, as far as prices are concerned. Hurting the business of the cotton man did not help the busi- ness of the farmer. On the contrary, disrupting the regularly established trade probably helped to hurt the farm- er, in spite of the 1,300,000 bales of cot- ton suppcsedly taken off the market, The resignations of Chairman and Mr. McKelvie might well this situation. If we must continue ex- perimenting with an unsound proposi- tion, at least let it be done without run- ning contrary to economic principles and without "disrupting the estdblished ?:nness of !ihe country, especially if the Tmer receives no benefit otlAe;‘:'ue rom doing from the C! Py e Charleston Evening t President Hoover “set about liquidathig the Farm Board as fast as possible,” and as to the retiring chair. man, that paper offers the comment. “Cotton and grain will be a long time getting over the ill effects of the chair- man’s policies. He will be chiefly re- membered as the man who exhorted farmers not to sell cotton when it was 19 cents a pound and wheat when it was $1.50 a bushel and who urged hold- ing at these prices with all the weight of Government authority behind his ad- vice. Nobody can calculate what indi- viduals lost as & result of Mr. Legge's advice. Worse than this, however, was his effort to try to corner the cotton and wheat markets with buying orders Intended to prevent the inevitable down- ward trend of the two commodities. ;?éfiengf, . evm:un;ly lcnst, everybody o most o the farme Wn’.;hin!cndrd to help. s P e position that the personnel of the board was good, but that the llgll failed to meet the situation, is taken by the Dayton Daily News, the Colum- * bus Ohio " State Journal, the Mel phis Commercial Appeal, the Chatt; nooga News, the Toledo Blade, the Dal- las Journal and the Detroit News, The ghlrl\)tte Observer says that Mr. Legge tackles a jok that the ablest mind in the Nation ‘would have quailed before,” and that “he had the courage of his convictions.” The Sioux Falls Argus- Leader points out that the members of the board, “venturing into a new fleld,” were “genuinely sincere in their ef- forts to be of assista The Hous- | ton Chrouicle advises “a ‘new approach to, %\he (n‘rmdpmblem “The tendency to criticize hars] and indiscriminately all men in pugfi office is growing upon the people, and creates a very serious, if not menacing situation, which may cripple publie service,” declares the Pasadena Star- News, while the Buffalo Evening News lnlel:prcls the criticism of the boa; as “expressions of resentment &t thy policy of bringing into public service men of the highest business experience and ability.” The Savannah News sug- gests that Chairman Legge may ‘“go back to private business convinced that & man with a skin as thick as an - only b . Kansas City Times feels e tLeb; n'znntur‘ot satisfac- r. Legge to receive so many protests over his retirement.” h“;l’l'he people of the coun his efforts, whether or not they were He has displayed an excep- the “world price. The wheat jgowers baye rot been receiving es h as £ 2 novel than some might believe, ecielly in the field of in- | 1 from a man so great dustry as Mr. Legge