Evening Star Newspaper, March 21, 1931, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY......March 21, 1931 ! Set-to, even at the risk of arrest for THEODORE W. NOYES. ...Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: 11th St and Pennsyivania Ave. New York Office: 110 E; 42nd jcago Office’ Lake Michigan Bullding. ropean Office: 14 Rr!rnl .. London, England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. rlu ‘per month ."sbc per month c per month Sc_per copy Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. 1] il only All Other States and Canada. Hy :l'l‘?’ Sunday =.V! . '}?% } Mg . l|_’x| n g A3 a0 | mes 1A AREREE A 0 HR 85 Member of the Associated Press. The Assoclated Press is exclusively ertitied to the use for re) llb‘htlllnn of all ntf:_:lelav in this paper and alto the local news published herein - All rizhts of publication of pecial di: erein 50 reserved spatches The Unemployment Figures. The value of the figures revealed by ! the new census of the unemployed is the bare presentation of the picture at at its worst. More than six million men out of work reflect an unprecedented condition in this country, an alarming state of affairs. The sooner its signifi- cance is realized the better it will be. There is some comfort, of course, in the knowledge that the statistics apply to unemployment at its peak, reached last January after the ebb of the Christ- mas tide of business, which always brings about & seascnal slump and which this year was made more acute by a depression confined to no one coun- try, extending throughout the civilized worl. Since the enumerators com- pleted thetr count business has begun the upward curve. There are signs of recovery everywhere and many believe that the lowest depths of the valley are behind, A lke census, taken today, would obviously reduce "the figures. ‘Winter has pasced and Spring has come. But balm of this sort means nothing 4f it is applied as a mere healing lotion. The knowledge that the worst is over | 1s scant comfort if it means that the elimb to another peak must be followed by & descent even more rapid, and to lower levels, than the last. The chief | problem before the Nation today is to fill up the swamps and morasses of de- | pression in advance and to prevent the repetition of such figures as those just| Tevealed. It is a task that chould call for the most intelligent and able leadership the country can supply. It has already be- come the chief theme of discussion, and there are favorable signs, such as the | ensictment, of the Wagner legislation, the | progress of public works projects, the‘ study of such partial remedies as un- employment insurance, that the problem | has alreagly left the category of myste- rious phenomena and has assumed the tangible proportions of a question that can be sensibly answered. . There is no doubt thgt a practical solution exists and eventually will’ be found. The danger-is that rapid recovery from the late depression will lessen the demand for it. The system abhors medicinal remedies when it is sound and healthy. The Department of Commerce figures show a tremendcus increase of 149 per cent over the unemployment statistics first announced by the Census Bureau for April of last year. The increase is explained by the monthly change of figures, which mounted rather steadily until January of this year. While the count this last time was confined to nineteen cities, the Department of Commerce estimated the increase for the country as a whole by applying to its previcus totals the psrcentages of increase actually noted in each of the nincteen cities. There is thus avoided the danger that might have resulted ifrom any tendency to underrate the situation. As the unemployed popula- tion has drifted to the big c.ties, sur- rounding which are the industrial estab- lishments most seriously affected by the slump, the latest figures undoubtedly represent the condition accurately, e It is expected that Henry Ford will carry cut plans for greater production and more emplpyment. N> one will even if il makes the parking m more serious. More parking cong:stion me>ns more policemen to keep cars moving and that fact in itself contributes a litle toward cvercoming une L 8e Mo 80¢ bt American Literary Manners. American letiers are rather a. an ebb tide when two of the most eminent ex- ponents, meeting on a social occasion in honor of a distinguished foreign author, get to in-ulting each other and slap- ping faces. Unfortunately the code duello has passed, else such an affair have been conducted upen & 4 plane. Bu. at best the en- r Le.wee d Dreiser waf sil'y #nd unbecor In the fist place Lewis, who s cquired an unhappy facult before his recent ac-olade at Stockholm, rffronted his host by refusing to speak In the presence of cne whom he accused of plagiarism and of two others who Fad criticized his se'ection for the Nobel prize. ng s to have wpon discovery of the presence of those whom he disliked. It was not his right to declaim a refusal to speak in their presence, coupling this refusal with a specific charge of literary theft, the basest offense that can be committed in literature. It was an old charge, once much discussed, and supposedly dropped. {test of the Senate’s power to recall It was quite within his :ighs! the gallant Englishmen only quietly to withdraw from the dinner |hours before his death when his speedy would better, after the fashion of the boys of fewer years, wait around the corner for his offender to appear, and there pitch into him for a satisfactory scrapping in public. Well, it was altogether a sad situa~ tion. It will of course be reported abroad. It will be exploited -in Eng- land, where the writers are avid for evidence of American barbarity. It will be noted by the eminent and loquacious Mr. Priestley, who is now traveling in this country, basking in the light of publicity due to some remarks of his own ancnt American letters. Perhaps it will be turned into literature on the other side, possibly into cinema drama, as & bit of characteristic Americanism. “American authors in fisticuffs over plagiarism,” “Nobel winner slapped for insult,” “Literary theft in States re- sented by blow"—what possibilities for headlines and “titles” the case affords! But there is another aspect to the affefr: This may all be rated as good publicity for both authors. The reading public may be intrigued into buying their books in hope of finding some re- flexes of the slapping match. —————s The U. S. Senate vs. Dr. Smith. As the time approaches for a court presidential appointments, after such appointments have been confirmed by | the Senate and the appointees have for- mally entered upon their duties, the| unfairness of the position into which! George Otis Smith has been forced by the. proceedings becomes Increasingly | apparent. The Attorney General has informally stated that Dr. Smith will be forced to retain his own counsel. The Depart- ment of Justice, if it takes any part in the legal proceedings, will appear merely as a friend of the court and. submit certain arguments on the points of law. The Senate has already provided an appropriation of $2,500 to engage its special counsel, John W. Davis and Alex- ander J. Groesbeck, former Governor of Michigan. /But Dr. Smith must now defénd himself against the forces of the United States Senate, with the Attor- ney General, by whose opinion he \-as confirmed in his legal right to the of- fice, standing aside and more or less| letting nature take its course. ; As a practical proposition, this may cause no undue hardship as fer as Dr. Smith is concerned, because there is probably legal talent ready and eager to volunteer service in his defense and for a nominal fee. As to the theory, it is all wrong. Here we have a man requested by the President to accept public office, appointed by the Presi- dent to the office, confirmed by the Senate and duly taking the oath and getting to work. His remaining in office, after the Senate’s challenge under rules of its own making, lay entirely with the President. And the President'’s decision that he remain was’ based on the Attorney General's opinion that the appointment was in ‘all respects legal. The Senate, of course, is within its rights in seeking a court definition of the line dividing some of its preroga tives from those of the Executive. But the sportsmanlike procedure would have been for the Senate to tet aside as much for Dr. Smith’s counsel’s fees as it did for its own, and to let the lawyers fight it out. As an individual, Dr. Smith's importance in the clarificat'on of the issues involved is negligible. But, personifying the straw man, he is en- titled to as skilled counsel as that hired by the Senate. If he hires it, however, on the Senate's appraisal of value re- ceived, he must fork over twenty-five per cent of his anpual salary. That is im- posing & rather high penalty for holding public office by presidentisi request and appointment. Dr. Smith’s counsel could logically fulfill his funciion by answering the Senate's petition in quo warranto by presenting the Attorney General's opin- fon, upon which the President re-| tained him in office. Whatever course is pursusd, the chairman of the Fed- eral Power Commission should not YBH; to include in the estimates for 1933, which go to the Budget Bureau this Summer, an item to cover expenditures involved in defending personnel against Senate attacks. Such expenditures are | certainly necessary in the public in-| terest, and should not be found to con- flict with the President’s economy pro- gram. i - e ‘The silent screen is said to be coming back int> pre-eminent favor., There are few good motién pictures, as there are few g-od plays. A great.play of one type does not make impossible another great play of another kind. The next leader among films may easily be a talk- ing picture, but, if so, it will not permit | the essumption that the pantom:me film is docmed. Every kind of technique demands its right to be tested. The raction pictures as a part of the theater are experimenting to counteract the monotony into which the playhouse has drifted. The Speedboat Championship. Thanks to Gar Wood, America’s| whitg-haired veteran of speedhoat rac- | ing, the United States has regained | its laurels on the water. For yester- day on Indian Creck at Miami Beach, Florida, he sent his ninth Miss Amer- | ica whining over the placid surface at more than one hundred”and two miles an hour to break the record of the late Maj. Sir Henry Segrfive of ninety- eight miles an hour, a record made by a few| craft struck a submerged tree. It was Wood who lost the title to Segrave and ' it was then that he determined to bu\la} & new and faster Miss America, Yes- terday’s success was the result of that determination, In regatning the record Wood has accomplished his lifelong ambition to Its revival was a deliberate affront to one whose position in letters, whatever may be the judgment of many regard- ing the merits of his work, is thorough- ly established. But one offense does not warrant another, in such a situation. An ag- grieved guest at, a social affair does not turn his host's premises into an arena. Face-slapping, however justified, is taboo in such precincts. It may be done with entire propriety outside the walls or in another place of assembly, but not “on the lot,” as it were. Dreiser drive a boat at one hundred miles an hour. He was the first man in history to reach a mile a minute on the water. end he attained this speed only after years of experimentation with various types of hulls and motors. An enthu- slast of the persistent type, he then set his goal for the one-hundred-mile-an- one serious rival to dispute his leader- ship. Miss Barbara Carstairs, who spent. half & million dollars in seek- ing to take his crown, has given up the sport as too expensive, and Se- grave succeeded but died. Now Kaye Don has taken up the race for Eng- land in the boat that ca Segrave to his death. Reports fi Britain recently indicated that Don, a veteran racer on water and land, had attaloed an unofficial speed of one hundred and ten miles an hour. So it should be a merry battle again between England and the United States, *but Americans can be assured that the record will not be taken and re- main long in foreign hands if Gar Wood retains his enthusiasm. Eng- land already holds the automobile speed record and the airplane speed record. America looks to Wood to keep the world’s championship on the water. ———— Coincidence, ‘ ‘That the world is really a very small place and that coincidence, is a re- markable and interesting thing were! { fidelity and strength in her analysis of | amply proved at a lecture recently at Rockwell Field, California, where ground school addresses on war-time bombard- ment aviation wers in progr:ss, Lieut. J. R. Pearson, jr., was the lecturer of the day, and the “students” were eager- Iy listening to his recital of the circum- stances which led to his miraculous escape from death in a battle over the front lines. Attacked by four enemy planes, his gunner and himself wounded and his controls shot away, he was saved by the timely intervention of & lone ellied fiyer, who dived to his rescue, shot down two of the German machines and forced the other two to flee. Although Pearson did not know fit, there was one man in the room to whom his story was of more than ordinary interest. When the lecturer finished, Capt. Frank O. D. Hunter, one of the few remaining World War “aces” on active duty, called him aside and quietly said, “Pearson, I was the pilot of the Spad who shot those two Ger- mans off your tail.” And so, after a twelve-year period, the rescuer and the rescued met for the first time to dis- cuss a fight that occurred over the bat- tlefields of France more than seven thousand miles aw Few cases could more vividly fllus- trate the conditions in which war ffyers battled in the skies. It is an illuminat- ing contribution to the history of the great struggle. ‘There are probably other events of equal interest which will be unearthed in the future and when discovered they will find a world avid to learn about them. —r———— Photographs of President Hoover be- come more genial as time goes on, Each is a more convincing assurance than its predecessor that lack of congres- sional co-operation has made him more inclined to a philosophic than to & misanthropic view of affairs. ——ee King George, after meeting formal expenses, has remaining an income that is represented as demanding rigid, personal economy. The example is fine. But even royalty cannot make rigid personal ‘economy widely popular. ———————— It is evidently Gandhi's wish to be discreet and conciliatory, but a political leader s sometimes embarrassed by finding that he has contracted for more peaceable understanding than he is able to deliver. r——— American manufacture of automobiles is making determined plans to reach the market abroad. Parking, once & local question, will become & world problem. — o SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Y. Official Forbid to “Wisecrack.” | Even a jest may be forbid Unto a man who oft has hid His cares beneath a generous smile That made a hard life seem worth while! Many a sage, so history tells, Has been disguised with cap and bells, And dwelt where men would dine and quaff, Content if he could make them laugh. Laughter is a compelling force Which sometimes changes sourse. Mistakes, if wit be of the best, Have found forgiveness in a jest. history’s A Song Questioned. “I admire that song, “It'’s Always Fair Weather When Good Fellows Get Together.” “You can't believe songs” asserted Senator Sorghum grimly. “There is no question that our national committee is composed of good fellows. Yet at a recent meeting differences of opinion arose that made it seem less like fair weather than like & blizzard.” Jud Tunkins says a vacation is good for a man. It doesn't necessarily mean idleness, but it gives him & chance to think without being Interrupted by office-callers. “want on terms dictated by an external Apparently Placid Stream. The river flowing on its way Now bids our cares redouble. The waterpow'r it may display Can cause all kinds of trouble. The Intended. “What is your intended husband's neme?” “I can’t tell you all about it,” an- swered Miss Cayenne, “My intentions were only recently formed and if I let him be notified he may become fright- ened and compel me to change my plan: Discovered in Making a Loan. The farmer says another weed He has to heed. Entangled into baffing shape, It's called red tape, “Averages may be asserted in strange ways,” said Hi Ho, the sage of China- town. “One who raises his voice often hour mark, and through the years has constructed one Miss America after an- other in an endeavof to attain it. And characteristic of the world's best known speadboat racer was his statement after yesterday's trials: “As soon as I get back te Detrolt I am going to start work on Miss America X. She will have four thousand horsepower, elghteen hundred more than this boat, and I expect to do at least one hundred and twenty miles an heur.” At the present time Wood has only lowers his dignity.” The Author’s Lot. In morals we must ever be polite. ‘When litersry prizes cash in strong, That kind of game of chance is quite all ‘right, ¢ But other lotteries are very wrong. “You. kin be puffickly right” said Uncle Eben, “in tellin’ which hoss is due to win. a race. But how is you g'ineter know dat de hoss won' change. his mind?” STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., SATURDAY, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. “Dear Bir: As & more or less consis- tent reader of your columns and one who enjoys most of your musings (pre- sumably use I usually agree with them) I 3hould be pleased to see your comments on the subject of sentence construction. 7 “f have always been somewhat of a crank on this subject, at least for the other fellow, and I believe I am becom- ing more and more cranky as the mod- arn writers become more and more care- less in this respect, and it has been called to my attention more forcibly | than usual recently, in reading Fannie Hurst's ‘A President Is Born. “I am not conversant with this writer's usual style, as I had been un- der the impression that she usually con- fined her writings to short stories, in which I do not indulge to any great extent. “I was led to read this book by some very enthuslastic criticisms, and, con- trary to my usual experience in such | cases, I felt that the book entirely jus- tified the favorable comments. the ordinary experiences and emotions of every day, this book would be hard | to beat, and I enjoyed these features of it immensely; but, all the time I was | reading, there was the undercurrent of dissatisfaction and criticism at the vio- lent disregard of all the old-fashioned | rules of grammar, | “I don’t mean merely the lack of the proper use of commas, semicolon, etc., | in an otherwise properly constructed sentence, in which particular so many modern books are so sadly remiss and | the proper use of which adds so much, | but the continual and persistent and | extravagant use of what purported to be sentences (as indicated by the pres- ence of a period dividing one from an- other), varying all the way from a| single word (and, often, dozens of such | consecutively) to a single, short clause introduced by a preposition and up to a long string of words with no subject and with nothing even approximating a verb. Very truly yours, A. W. C.” * ¥ X x Most readers will feel, with our cor- | respondent, that manhandling of the | honest sentence has gone far enough | in_ihe writing world. | Some of the Nation's most noteworthy fictionists have no more respect for the heritage of the sentence than they have | for old-time conventions. Words, they belleve, are merely for| the expression of thought, and if one| is able to “put over” a thought by leav- | ing out a verb, or the subject, or both, one should by all means uo it. The omission, they seem to feel, is a rather clever feat, setling one above the common herd of those who still use sentences. | Several entirely original writers, | writing from Paris, have given up sense, | too, and throw out words as a cuttie | fish does his ink. If the words happen to mean any- thing to the reader, well and good; if | they do not, but appear to him only 50| much balderdash, so much the worse | for him. The sophisticated originator of such | wordy outpourings knows, or presumes he does, what the words mean; if he does not, he takes refuge in queer sounding titles for his work and is| proud to be regarded by a few followers | as the originator of new “style.” | All this time the undisputed great authors, in all languages, are going | right ahead, in their old-fashioned, | plodding way, writing sentences which | more or less resemble sentences, and | which square with grammatical rules of all civilized nations. Sentences which are not really sen- tences are not new. The art of writing has always known them. Ellipsis is as old as the sentence itself. ‘The sentence is not merely a rule of grammar, as many seem to think, but a very human, & Very common sense way of getting a certain amount of mental and emotional work done. The sentence, or group of words, is the main thing. The ellipsis, or omis- sion, is entirely secondary. First let us consider the sentence, an old friend with which every one of us deals hun- dreds of times every day. A sentence, it is well to remind our- -selves, is-a set of words complete in it- self, containing a subject and predicate. From the standpoint of grammar, such a set is usually a statement, a ques- tion or & command. Of course, grammar falls down there. A sentence may be a great deal more thgn that! 1t is entirely permissable for a writer (or speaker) to omit either, or part of either, the subject or predicate, or both. ‘This is done by ellipsis, the omission from a sentence of words needed to complete the construction or sense. 1t is all right, from every standpoint, for a writer to turn out somehting on this order: “He looked around him. He saw the sky. The trees. The white clouds,” etc., etc. “He saw” is omitted. This is a simple example, but it gives the ldea. If not carried too far, it is a deft way of adding variety, or life, to prose work. 1f overdone, it irritates. e The use of out a long Ludwig in his present tense through- a device employed by apoleon the Man,” and subsequently orked to death” by him, is entirely legitimate. Whether any given reader will be able to stomach it, however, is another matter. Exactly this applies to ellipsis, in writing, ~ Writing, in its very nature, must be formal. In speech, as we all practice it every day, we commit many breaches of the rules of grammar, rhetoric, and so on, and no one sto) to give it much thought, because speech, as_commonly practiced, is informal. But writing is, and must be, formal. the This means, as we see it, that the great | rules of common sense are vastly im- portant in it. ‘Tricks, mannerisms, new departures, are bound to arise in writing, in all nations, as education becomes what we call universal. Those variations which do plain viola- | tion to common sense, and to such established “rules” as that of the sentence, and proper sentence construc- tion, will in the end be deprecated by all who take reading and writing sericusly. It is fashionable today, in certain circles, to take nothing seriously. But this is only for a time. Soon even these misguided persons will see, as they grow older, that it was not for nothing that the greatest writers of all nations have stuck consistently to the use of sentenees, finding that they could not be improved upon, but were, and are, indeed, the quintessence of what mankind has discovered in regard to “how to write.” A writer who quarrels with the Eng- lish sentence js like a bricklayer who should stop his task to ccmplain that his bricks are not round. Let him lay them the best he can, and see if he cannot make a masterpiece from them. Giving Public Land to States - Produces Some Skepticism Doubipis expressed in general com-| ment as to the feasibility of the plan suggested by the President’s commission cn the conservation and administration | of the remaining portion of the public | domain. Certain rights would be r served by the Federal Government, but the States would receive jurisdiction | over the rest of these areas, which were originally of large extent. While there s some approval of the repcrt, which calls for congressional action, the ques- tion is raised as to the value of the lands and as to the cost to the States | of the proposed system. Pointing out that these lands| once amounted to 1,500,000,000 acres, and that there is an “unproductive remnant,” which the Government would release “on its own terms,” the Deiroit Pree Press recalls that “when the relinquishment was first broached by Mr. Hoover, a number of Senator from public-land States scoffed at a cffer which they likened to that of an | empty shell from which the egg has been sucked.” The Free Press con- tinues: “The efforts of Mr. Hbover to put the public lands on a business-like basis are commendable; and if the co- cperation of the interested States is not forthcoming it will be because he arrived cn the scene too late, after the cream had been skimmed from the setting. Generation after generation has seen administration after admin- istration squander our once magnificent public domain. Only 179,000,000 acres still remain of it. They should be taken over by the States within which ‘they lie; but we know of no way of compell- ing States to take over what they do not authority.” * x x It is felt by the Hartford Courant that “the eminence of the 17 meh com- posing the ccmmission should be suf- ficient guarantee of the justness of the plan to the Government”; that “since the States may, if they choose, refuse to | accept their alictments, their rights are fully protected.” The Courant believes that “a number of the States will take advantage of the offer, if it is made before the remaining valuable portiors are taken up by settlers” The Kala- mazoo Gazette thinks that “the whole report will no doubt be studied thor- cughly before any final plan of action is adopted,” and records that “it is ad- mitted generally that there is need for a comprehensive and definite prcgram of administration.” The Gazette con- cludes that “the facts included In the report should be highly useful to Con- gress when it finally attempts to dis- pose of the problem.” Recalling the “cld song that ‘Uncle Sam is rich encugh to give us all & farm,’” the Seattle Daily, Times says: “The curtain has been rung down on the policy of supplying homes to those possessed with the spirit of the pioneers in a suficlent degree to make them tackle the job of wresting 8 living from virgin sofl. A mistake was made in continuing the application of the home- stead law beyond the period of its use- fulness. * * * But whether the States will accept the land is a ques- tion. Some of it may already be useful for grazing: some may be developed for that purpose. but the American people must reconcile themselves to the fact that the old order has passed. .The land now under cuitivation and that which can be reclaimed for profitable use is the limit along that line.” “Why change eontrol?” asks the San Bernardino Sun, with the comment on the proposal made by the investiga- tors: “There is much to be said on both sides of this question, which is a very live one in the West, The States, no doubt, could and would develop their public lands faster than the Federal Government. But there’s the rub. Fed- | out, eral conservationists fear the States would develop the lands too fast, that in their eagerness for opening up of unused areas they would sacrifice nat- ural resources and be too liberal with private interests. It is hard for an | chased 1ater. unprejudiced citizen to decide where the rights lie. 1t is easy to say, as some States do, ‘These are our lands, won by our pioneer labors. It looks that way. But read history. The original 13 States gave all their public lands to the Federal Government. The Federal Government created the new States out of those lands and others, pur- The States have no legal or natural rights, but have doubtless acquired some moral rights to the prop- erfy. The Government, however, seems to have done a very good job with the public lands.” S - “If California sentingént is favorable,” remarks the Oakland Tribune, “it is probable some considerable areas of unreserved and unappropriated public lands will be turned by Uncle Sam over fo the commonwealth. At least, the President’s committee has made the recommendation. The suggestion car- ried out, Congress will take action at the next session. If a State does not accept the grant or falls to pass the necessary measures wittAn 10 years, the establishing of a rational range com- prising the public lands if recommend- Left out of the arcas affected are those desirable for national defense, reclamation, reservoirs, national fo ests, parks or monuments and migr: tory bird refuges. Some States, pa ticularly those of the Northwest, have long sought this change. Others have not been overly anxious to assume re- sponsibilities which the Government now accepts.” Referring to such lands in Minnesota, the Duluth Herald adds that “the States would have the expense of taking care of the areas, providing fire pro- tection and so on. Minnesota now has several million acres of land that it cannot find use for or even adequately care for. What inducement is there for taking over any more?” The Asbury Park Press finds an obstacle in the fact that these States “have no money for conservation uses.” “One opportunity, they do present. concludes the Dayton Daily News. “In these desert wastes a saving solitude can be found, Into such deserts went the prophets of old to ‘muster the | vision and the poise for their precarious prophet careers. In due time & people rerye-rasped by the noises of their | Epoc! crowded city lives will value the still- ness of the desert as a means of re- cuperation and rest. In that day we shall be glad that nature supplied rocky mountains and, arid wastes. What ;.ne¥ llla}:-k in fertility they may supply n fa o New and Better Heroes, Fiom the Atlanta Journal. As counsel for the cefense, Coach Robert Zuppke of the University of Illinois delivered a telling and a stagu- larly clear-headed analysis of the status of collegiate athletics before the meeting of school superintendents in Detroit. Critics of the athletic system now in vogue thriughout the colleges and uni- versities of the Nation have been so zealous recently in their indictments that they have in some cases distorted more or l:ss inevitable defects into lurid evils, and Coach Zuppke's opinion serves &s a timely reminder that the issue has two sides, and that the better side has been virtually for- gotten in some quarters, That overemphasis has developed here and there in athletic competition between colleges is obvious, but treatment of this condition does not demand the drastic remedies which some proponents have advocated. There remain innumerable healthful influ- ences arising from clean-limbed con- tests among the youth of the Nation, and it is to these benefits that the eminent Illinois mentor directed at- tention. “At the beginning,” he points “the students managed these activitles themselves, but so unsuccess- fully that the faculties of the majority of the institutions decided to take con- trol.” This fact should be borne in mnd in gny consideration of the evo- Jution of collegiate athlelic systems, for unless the starting point is recalled, progress cannot be agsayed. MARCH 21, 198Y, THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover The story of two Kentucky families and their collateral relatives through more than a hundred years is the ma~ terial of Joseph Hergesheimer in “The Limestone Tree.” The|family tree of the Abels and the grows and spreads in the limestone region of Ken- tucky. The story begins with the set- tlement of Kentucky at Harrodsburg by followers of Daniel Boone and ends with 1890. The early part of the nar- rative recalls “The Great Meadow,” by Elizabeth Madox Roberts. Not family degeneration from strong pioneer stock is the theme, but family growth with the growth of the State. As the forests and clearings of limestone Kentucky give place to woodland meadows, grazing lands and stately mansions; as thriving towns grow up on the sites of trading posts, the men of the Sash and Abel families become the owners of the mansions and the leading lawyers in the towns. Heredity is a strong factor in the two families. The lust for the forest which conquered the first Ga- briel Sash is held in control by his descendants, but lingers in many of them, so that in times of stress they seck comfort and renewal in the depth of the forest. Feuds beginning in ploneer days lead to hatred and mur- der, other feuds grow cut of political differences and become more acute as ths Civil War approaches, for Ken- tucky, a border State, is divided in her own house. The unifying principle, in | tbe midst of all the hatreds and strife, is love of Kentucky. Only an occa- sional Sash or Abel leaves Kentucky and goes farther South, and when he the family. It is a family superstition that trouble comes from the South. * Kk % X ‘The first Gabriel Sash, son of an unspeakable woman, comes out of the forest, one of the Long Hunters, to the settlement at Harrodsburg, where James Abel and his wife and children are among the settlers. Tall, gaunt, burn:d by the sun to the color of an Indian, with sharp eyes like bullets, and long, dark hair over his shoulders, he appears in the stockade, wearing scalp- ing knife and tomahawk at his beit. He notices Nancy Abel, wild as a young colt and scorning all the young men of the settlement. Nancy notices him and wonders what his past has been and why he is so morose. Fate, not a kindly one, draws_ them together. Gabriel is unwilling. Both instinct and reason tell him that his place not among people, that personal ties cannot hold him, But Nancy's decision has been swift. “I never took notice to girls,” he tells her, /It wouldn't Le right. I got no life a girl could manage with.” Nancy encourages him, almost desperately: “You might change a little * ¢ * perhaps you'd come to like the settlements.” But Gabriel doubts this. “Take Harrodstown,” he says; “there must be 200 people in her right now. Two hundred! You'd be running into first one, then another. A day wouldn't go by but you'd have your knife in somebody. It's different in the woods. No happen so people can be there.” 1In spite of his doubts, | he decides to take the risk. “I' don’t know if it's bad or good,” he says, “but you're my luck.” The lJuck proves to be bad and W] their child is oniy a few weeks old Gabriel leaves Nancy and the baby and silently losés himself in the forest, never to.return. His only farewell is: “I can't take to living in a house. I don’t want for you to strive like you do. All I nesd is a little fire and some tea and a Diece of venison twisted about the end of my ramrcd. That is all. * * * I belong to the woods. With the buffalo and the elk. That's my luck, good or bad.” - A E More than a hundred years later, an- other Gabriel Sash, descendant of that baby deserted in his cradle, sits on a log in the woods of his estate near Lex- ington and, himself an old man, tells t6 a member of the youngest generation of the family the story of the first Ga- briel,Sash, James Dixon Folkes, grand- {son of one of the Abel women, has a French actress for a mother and has been brought up in Paris. To him, when he comes to visit his Kentucky relatives, the Kentucky of 1890 is a crude wilderness dotted with insignifi- jcant towns. He éxpects to find some amusement among the racing men of the family and to play the Don Juan among the pretty girls, but the spell of Kentucky and the history of his family take n of him and he decides to remain, marry n, Susan Abel, and become a Kentuckian, Indif- ferent to the decency of order, the first Gabriel Sash has “reiurned, like a sav- age, to the life of savages and of wild beasts. Well, Paris, in its own manner, was a forest. The blood of his mother was restless in him; suddenly he was afrald of it; he was conscious of other influences. John Dixon Folkes viewed the slow, painful accumulation of a tra- dition; he had looked back into the past, at the bare lives of his ancestors, and seen them change with the chang- ing State, he had watched them change Kentucky. The lives of his ancestors, one following the other, passionate and courageous .men, generations of women with pure hearts, had created at least a substitu’e for a missing safety: they had learned ha'w to :ne:t disaster.” * “The picture of the South realizing its possibilities in the New American Epoch was therefore a colorful picture of an achieving region rather,than a pale print of the sensitive South. was.a South thinking less highly of the past than of the future; a South seek- ng to do all things well rather than merely a few things big: a South which | appraised work higher than talk, truth “more than dogma, integrity miore than acclaim. It was a South unafraid; not afraid of Sinaic thunders echoed by false prophets; not afraid to do its own thinking nor to create in pioneer fields; not afraid of the truth and the freedom | which truth reveals; not afraid of the | past, the present, or the future.” This is the conclusion of Howard W. Odum {in his book on the South of the past and of the present, “An American h: Southern Portraiture in the National Picture.” x inw A regretful look is cast at the re- ceding past in Cecilia Beaux's auto- bicgraphy, “Backeround With Pigures.” From a New England childhood the artist passed t> apartment house life in a large city and to student life in France and Italy. Butalways the spacfousness and leisure of earlier days in New England linger with glamour in her memory. She reminisces: “I am sorry for the young who in town | can visit only in_apartments and am thankful that I have the memorv of long vistas in deep, quiet houses, whers there were high ceilings, rich damask curtains, long, wide halls, softly carpeted and curving stalrs, mounting upsand up to regions where running and peep- ing could be slyly enjoyed. There were views, too, of great bed rooms where everything was ample and spatfal; big smooth pillows, white bedspreads, heavy furniture for which there was plenty of room and spotless comfort everywhere.” * k= X Alfred Noyés has completed his poetic and philosophical trilogy, “The Torch- returns it usually means misfortune for | Bearers.” e volumes are entitled Eal 5 mlr:(hy might be called a symphony in three movements on the theme of the meaning of life. The earliest astrono- | mers, searching in the vault of heaven | for a solution of the riddle of the uni- verse, are the “Watchers” of the first volume. Scientists from Pythagoras to Darwin are the actors in “The Book of Earth” and medical scientists are the heroes of sees Infinite of “The Last Voyage.” Mr. Noyes Mind, working through prineiples of order, directing all science. ——————— Unecrewing the Inscrutable. From the South Bend Tribune. They are siill trying to strengthen the Indiena primary election system, which is the same as trying to unscrew the inscrutable. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. g, | mon Council of Philadel headquarters Capital. If they can be of assistance q{l:ldnn plainly and coin_or stamj ) tor, Q. What BD'.h;—memn song in East e?—G. D. A. It is “Then You'll Remember Me,” from the Bohemian Girl. Q. Can nograph records pre tfor” eiecirieal tfanscription be. piayed on a home phonotrlpg7—n. 8. A. Phonograph records made for lio broadcasting—known as electrionl transcription — cannot be played on home phonographs. Al h these appear to be similar, they are made for radio 'Bn.xrm only, and they dif- {;afmm standard phonograph rec- Q. How many times was Henry Clay a candidate for President?—C. W. A. Clay was a presidential candidate in 1824, 1832, 1844 and 1848, Q. Was George Bernard Shaw ever accused of plagiarism, and did he ad- !nix i!‘;—J. E. C. » - On one occasion when accused of plagiarism, Shaw is said to have re- plied:” “If I find in & book anything g;;";{"u \.Il»el(‘:{.l 1 :lke“u gratefully. ays are o kind. Shakespeare, G A Doyle, Oscar Wilde, comes to my net.” Q. Isn't it true that Marie Louise of Austria had a lover with whom she carried on an affair that was generally known?—F. G. A. A. Marfe Louise deserted Napoleon when he was on his way to Elba and returned to Vienna with Count Neip- perg. While Napoleon was at St. Helena, Marie Loulse lived openly with Neipperg at Parma, and she bore the count a son shortly after the death of her exiled husband. Q. What was the epitaph on the stone mrkln‘ the ’l’lv. of the war l'Ewrll of the e of Wellington?—D. N. A. “Here lies Copenhagen, born 1808, died 1836. God’s humble instru- ment, though meaner clay, should share the glory of that famous day.” Q. Was the composer Puccini & rich man?—S. C. L. A. Puccini left a fortune of 20,000,- 000 lire, or $1,000,000. Q. Who said that as soon as laws are necessary for men they are no longer fit for freedom?—E. R. 8. A. Pythagoras. 1 com Q If s girl from Ireland with intention of marrying an Ameri- R. A. It is possible for a citizen of the United States whose flancee is coming to this country to arrai immigration officials at entry about the provision in the advance notice of and arrangements can be made so that the ceremony may take place soon after the girl lands. 5 consid- ered an ordinance to prevent any such ba between the months of No- vember and March. Virginia laid a tax of $30 per year on all bathtubs and extra heavy water rates. In Boston there was an ordinance forbidding their use except on medical advice. Q. Who partici) ORI n e st ancient Greece the entire pop- ulace participated in Olympic games. Q. How many slaves did George Washington have ik Mol at the time of his A. He was the owner of 124 slaves. Q. Will you be kind enough t> give me a very rough estimate on the mfm- ber of books of one title sold yearly, the book not being by a noted author, and we will say, a fair story? I should urk;"u:o lla:ve some idea about it, in o now what a certain Would amount to-—E. 8. K. o ¢ A. A publisher whom we have con- sulted says: ¢We sell an average of approximately 5,000 of each book of fiction which we publish, that is by an author with a little known mname. Ip some cases the sales run slightly under this number, in other cases they run higher.” ©. How large are col! cam) ? L llege puses fi. Thehy. vary m)an' Some urban lleges have practically no campuses. Campuses maintained by landsgrant colleges differ considerably. The largest is that of Mississtppi icultural and Mechanical College, totaling 800 acres, and next largest is that of the Univer- sity of Florida with 673 acres. Others vary from 360 acres at the University of New Hampshire to as little as 15 acres at the University of Idaho. Q. Why was the game of Badminton given this nsme?—C, E. A. Badminton, in ‘crude form, was first played in Indla and was called Poona after the town in which it originated. It was brought to England in 1872 by British army officers and in 1873 was named Badminton in ):})ln o huf lh;‘dml 'n:‘ Ghn:‘mu'm - ose home, nton, was formally introduced. Q. How large a speckled brook trout 5 e largest square-tailed speckled brook trout on record is one which weighed 1417 pounds and was caught vy Dr. J. W. Cook in the Nipigon River in Ontario, Canada. Q. What is the chemical theory of odor?—J. G. A. Odor is the volatile portion eof bstance perceptible by the sense of smell. The odor theory assumes that the odor sensation is due to the combination of chemical radicals, call- ed osmorphic groups of the odorous substances that combine with certain substonces of the nasal membrane, called osmoceptors. Q. Which costs more for construetion. a mile of concrete road or a mile of raflroad?—R. U. A. The average a mile of concrete cost of constructing road is $30,000. The cost for & mile of railroad is average between $30,000 and $35,000. Highlights on the Wide World Excerpts From Newspapers of Other Lands EUES WIENER TAGBLATT, Vienna.—A dreadful duel was contrived recently by two coal miners of St.Etienne, in France. ‘The pair concerned, one a 34- year-old Frenchman, and the other a 27-year-old Portuguese, were -equally frenzied with an affection for a certain young woman, a cabaret entertainer in the city already mentioned, and re- solved to terminate their rivalry in mortal combat. The survivor would thus be able to pursue his courtship without interference. the better accomplishment of their desperate project, the men decided to stage their “two-fight” (Zweikampf) under the earth, down at the very bot- tom of a mine, where there would be nd witnesses and so no efforts to placate the quarrel. The weapons chosen were the implements of their labor—viz., pickaxes, By the light only of their miners’ lamps, there n @ frightful conflict, in which the ‘hman soon fell senseless with grievous wounds in his hc:’ae Found shortly afterward, he was taken to a hospital in a dying con- dition. Meanwhile the victor in this ‘barous battle betook himself to flight. * ok k% Natural Explanation For Horse’s Vision at Night. The Bulletin, Sydney—“J. T. Touching on the ability of horses to “see in the dark,” there's a very natural explanation. Ride on a pitch-dark night along a rough track, or no track at all, and notice how close the horse keeps his head and sensitive nose to the ground, and, while watching for obstructions immediately in front, picks tihis way csrefully among irregularities underfoot. Should he find a fence, quite invisible to the rider, he will stop or swerve off . Or if one is off the track, he will nose about till he finds it. Having his head projecting beyond that of the rider and closer to the ground, he has the advantage of nearer vision. No doubt also the long hairs on his nose, like the whiskers of a cat, act in some measure as feelers. * ok X % Physical Culture Conducive to Fair Play. Diario del Comercio, Barranquilla.— The realm of sport has, too, its phi- losophy. There is nothing on earth which is able to detach itself from the power and influence of metaphysics, and necessarily, therefore, sron is no exception. Rathe) we believe that there is no other anthropological func- tion or activity in the world that co: duces naor:h npld&! :g‘ a p]:;:h:g fair play an e tru n cul- ture, for development and discipline of the body bring us at once into more intimate acquaintance with the divine doctrines of nature, and so make us stronger, more considerate, more en- , more generous, more optimistic and more human. However, a love of sport does not ani- mate all. It seems to be a heritage re- served for, and certainly most enjoyed by, those who, living in the cities, their lives confined to a narrow and prosaic routine, are glad to break their picket ropes and escape to the pure, fresh air of mountain or plain for the exercise of muscles wearled and torpid from 54 entary employments. ‘The ancientsy far wiser in many re- spects than we Who pride ourselves upon ovr modern wisdom, had for cne of their proverbs, “Mens sana in corpore $ano,” and human experience repeatedly oves the truth of that assertion. To & success intellectually, we must not neglect our bodies. With physical well~ being comes an alert menality. But here, as in all other functions of the reasonable moderation is the key voted to the pursuit of skill gerous games and pastimes, in which too often victg eferred to sportsman- ship, they o interest what- ever p more p oppogtunities of existence, wildianimal that is beautif ows Min its grace and mov hey _becom nothing more. | all mans soul his body. Such forget that after is mcre tmportant than gk, 1] False Theories Blamed For World-Wide Depression. turbing every country been brought on by of so-called industrislists, who have taught us how to acquire material wealth, but caused us at tne same time to forget all tions to hu- manity in general while amassing our private fortunes. ) “It is impossible for soci2l harmony to exist in any country,” declared the archbishop, “where a few of the le become rich, and the great majority be- come impcvel Just now we are suffering the consequences of objectives conceived in such a system of self-ag- grandizement. The divine ordinances of social justice and common charity can- not long. without hznm upon us heavy penalties. “lt.y e g ml “’.‘? :;‘pnnl- perity now being promulgaf - nent manufacturers and industrialists to amend our errors intends that hereafter all shall have a prorcrfimi" share in the country’s prosperity. In the meantime . we should all avoid extrava- gance and luxury, especially those wom- en who are prone to indulge in expen- sive embellishments and fancies to gratify their vanity. We must all exert our best efforts to increase the produe- ::::._ol useful and necessary commodi- Gas Situation ‘Called Unfair to Consumer To the Editor of The Those of us who have had occasion to buy gas appliances from out of town have noticed that it is always necessary to specify as to whether are to be used with artificial or natural , the obvious reason being that the burner for one kind of gas is not suit- able for use with the other. For years we enjoyed artificial '-ga and now, after previously adulterating it with the poisonous water gas, it is further adulterated with the poisonous natural gas, for the profit of the com- pany, but not the consumer. Persons who now desire to shuffie off this mortal coil no longer have to Bwr the keyholes and other fine orifices, but can accomplish their suicide by simply closing the door on the gas, without such a long wait and wide-spreading odor. - From the way those, who are posed to look after the interest of consumers, swallowed all the propesals of the company as to changes in the sv-luenndflumuflyupd grmer simple t11'|‘le'lt‘;|'md charges, 80 average consumer would not be able to find how things ‘were going, it appears to me that they were neither well informed nor over- anxious to see the consumers get square- deal. The resulting complaints bear out the opinion of some of us who had no power in the matter, and for & long agility they tarily for th¥ss animal att: