Evening Star Newspaper, March 26, 1931, Page 8

{THE EVENING STA % With Sunday Morning Eaition. e —— ——— et WASBHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY......March 26, 103 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor Company ok Rate by Carrler Withim the City. 8t 45¢ per month S Wt e ot SR g ey B Mafl—Payable in Advance. e L Tvhand asd Virgtate B Member of the Assoclated Press. s exciysivety evtitied all_pews dig~ Twise ever put on the period within the merger should take place. Each year of delay, of course, adds to the cost for street car service paid by local car riders in cash and in- convenlence and adds to the returns to the North American Company by the Increasingly profitable business of the Potomac Electric Power Company. o Anxious Days for New York. Just how the New York City investi- gation just ordered by the State Legis- lature will synchronize with Governor Roosevelt's own inquiry into the con- duct of Mayor Walker on the basis of the charges filed against him is some- what in doubt. The Governor has sent the charges on tothe mayor, in California, for his rejoinder. The mayor is plan- ning to start eastward on Sunday and he will probably not attempt a full and formal reply until he has arrived in New York and has conferred with his friends and political advisers. Mean- ;| while it is expected that the commit- The 125 Per Cent Limitation. ‘The current District appropriation act removed one of the serious causes of delay in purchase of sites for schocl buildings by inserting the proviso that | the money appropriated should be “made immediately available without limitation as to price based on assessed value for the purchase of such sites.” That simple phrase was the result of several years' experience with the so- called 125 per cent limitation placed on prices pald for these school sites. It probably tied up the business of buying Jand more than anything else. If the District suthorities were not able to| reach an agreement with the owners of property for sale at a price within twenty- five per cent above the assessed value, the deal was placed in the hands of a condemnation jury. And if the jury ‘awarded a price still in excess of the limitations, the authorities were forced to go back to Congress to obtain ap- proval and the necessary money to meet the condemnation price. Much the same thing is going on in Tespect to the purchase of five parcels of land for the arboretum. The owners held their land at a price in excess of twenty-five per cent above the assessed tee of investigation will not be named until after the adjournment of the Legislature on the tenth or the eleventh of April. This leaves & margin of sev- eral days in which the mayor can an- swer the charges and the Governor can act before the major inquiry starts. There has been some talk of the Gover- nor turning the charges against the mayor over to the legislative commit- tee for examination and report. Yes- terday, however, representatives of Tammany “warned” the Governor against such a course. That is to say, certain high-ups in Tammany notified the Governor that it would be regarded as an “unfriendly act.” This has cer- tain political implications that are not to be disregarded. If the Governor re- fers the charges to the legisiative com- mittee he may be thought to have chosen to incur Tammany's unfriendli- ness rather than the public suspicion of undue friendliness. Tammany may not be agreeable to a proposal to present Governor Roosevelt to the next Demo- cratie convention as New York's “favor- ite son” if he now turns the Walker charges over to a Republican-controlled inquiry. But there may be a decided advantage with the American public at large in having incurred Tammany's displeasure. ‘Thus these days of delay in the matter of New York investigation are days of anxiety for all concerned, for the Gov- ernor, who is caught between the two . | forces of Tammany and general public to ; i i g iy ML ! i} : § gl B iall ? 5 H 2:5 s i 3 gégzé E § L E 13 i E! g H K1 ol EE it i Egs it 4 § g 8382 i : El ¢ i 5 | s gt & the condemna- E5E _gr. =3 8 ¥ , was only $64,513.75. hands of its agents the power for land and pay the price in their judgment seems hfir,“ them responsible, of course, 1gr in the hands of condemnation juries. A valuation for purposes of tax assess- ment and a valuation for purposes of sale are two different things, and no law can combine them to serve the purpose of an inflexible and arbitrary ‘The sooner the attempt is Russian theater managers are being reminded that they must give the public what the Soviet wants and then make the public like it It is quite possible that the much-admired art of the Rus- sian theater is facing & new crisis. ————— A Merger—Sometime, Maybe. ‘With the Public Utllities Commission and the corporation counsel busily at ‘work delving into the intricacies of out- side control of the telephone and gas companies, it is interesting to recall the North American Company's econtrol of the Washington Rallway &. Electric Company and its highly prosperous sub- disapproval; for the Tammany office- holders in Greater New York, who are already beginning to feel the pinch of circumstances—two of them werz pushed who do not know just how be is going to reach and who be caught with the goods of is somewhat concerned, manner in which Mayor ‘alker should be received upon his re- turn from California. There are two in “Our Jimmie.” The other and truly wiser proposal is to let the mayor slip back into town as unostentatiously as he left, and to have him set right to work to conduct a vigorous—or as vigor- ous as possible—housecleaning of the municipal premises on his own account. Advocates of the latter course urge that it will not be altogether wise to declare by a vociferous - welcome-home that everything is all right, that Mayor Jim- mie is still the fair-haired son of Tam- many in the highest standing. For it may become neocessary before this thing is finished to throw Mayor Jimmie over as a sacrifice. Lesser creatures of Tam- many are being thus sacrificed from time to time, such as the two who got their walking papers yesterday, and even Jimmie may have to be tossed to the wolves. e Statesmanship will have problems to solve in connection with United States Treasury receipts and expenditures. Since the beginning of the Nation's ca- | reer the solution of such problems has been one of the great responsibilities of statesmanship and there is no reason to doubt that competent statesmanship will always be available to dispose of them as they arise. ————— The National Boulevard. Representative Britten of Illinois, deeply interested in the development of Washington as the National Capital, propounds an inquiry jointly to the chairmen of the Public Utilities Com- mission, the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Park and Planning Commission, which doubtless has been more or less in the minds of those concerned in the evolution of the Federal city for some time. He asks whether it is feasible to clear Pennsyl- vania avenue from the Capitol to the Treasury of street car tracks and loading platforms in order that that thorough- fare may become & boulevard equal in beauty and impressiveness with any in the, world. He asks whether surveys have been made of this possibility. He wants to know whether legislation will be necessary to effect the result. ‘This starts & discussion which may lead to an important change in the aspect of the city and the status of the street rallway systems of the Dis- trict. The gradual introduction of bus- ses for general transportation within sidiary, the Potomac Electric Power Company. The North American Com- pany gained ocontrol af the Wash- ington Rallway & RElectric through the District has undoubtedly lessened the patronage of the car lines.. Whether eventually the more flexible sligle-unit vehicle will wholly replace the tracked THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, The ideal of & completely clear boule- vard between the Capitol and the ‘Treasury is one toward which the aspirations of Washingtonians have inclined for & long time, regardless of the question of rapid transit facilities. ‘The clearance of the south side of Pennsylvania avenue for Federal build- ing constructions and the taking of & considerable portion of the north side for the Municipal Center bring to actuality a dream of many years. The so-called Shipstead law, requiring & high standard of architectural design for private structures fronting on Government buildings, assures the even- tual development of the remaining portions of Pennsylvania avenue in accord with its ncw character as the great national thoroughfare. A revision of its transportation equipment, to yield a maximum of facility for the movement of the people and a mini- mum of defacement and congestion, would seem to be quit: in order to complete the transformation. —————————— ‘Thanks to pictorial tradition, there is & clear line of demarcation still remain- ing between the two great national parties. The one still uses an elephant and the other a donkey as an emblem. While the difference points to no posi- tive distinction in moral or philosophic thought, it at least shows a determina- tion to preserve time-honored trade marks. ———— California has always been peculiarly fortunate in its press agents. Some of the country's best poets have sung its praises, and of late the motion picture, which commands the highest skill in publicity, has been happy in reminding the world of the beauties of the Pacific Coast. Wheat is to become the subject of what, affer much effort to put theories into practice, looks almost like & new economic experiment—that of permit- ting price to be regulated normally by supply and demand. — e Orators are again appreciated in this country. In spite of consclentious efforts to provide general entertainment, there is a feeling that radio lags just a little between political campaigns. —_— e Publishers of attacks on historic char- acters do not permit reprint of passages for purposes of comment. If the people want the bad news about their patriots, they will have to pay for it. o On the theory that simple humanity is beloved of Heaven, it becomes the | And, duty of traffic experts to seek new methods of protecting the “jaywalker” from himself. ——————— Some’ questions are never settled. The old argument as to whether New York or Chicago is the wickeder city still goes on. Men who work under its domination are compelled to rest occasionally, but ‘Tammany itself never takes & vacation. —_—————— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Faces. ‘Thank Heav'n for the faces That daily we see; ‘Those bringing the graces That sparkle with glee, And those that show sorrow, Which brings into mind Some heart that must borrow A thought that is kind. . There's joy in the beauty That Art holds so dear; There's pride in the Duty ‘That brought lines severe, ‘The baby with smiling Brings freedom from care, And a villain's beguiling ‘Will bid us beware, ‘Thank Heav'n for the faces, ‘The smooth or the quaint, That show in all places ‘The sinner or saint. In grief or in glory, ‘Where crowds swiftly change, Each face tells a story Both truthful and strange. “Talk” Seientifically Considered. “You will have some very interesting things to talk about when you get back home.” “I have progressed,” said Senator Sorghum, “beyond the point where a politician depends on his own conversa- tion. I have succeeded in making my- self the chief topic of discussion.” “Yet the public expects to hear from you.” “The desire must be gratified in mod- eration. History has always shown that true greatness is more talked about than talking.” Jud Tunkins says the early bird is well known for his advantage. He is lke the radio announcer, who, having first chance at the microphone, comes pretty near “stealing the show.” The Rollicking Racketeer. .To pay from income by hard effort won More taxes, we must hurry. The bootleg racketeer’s the only one ‘Who does not have to worry. Unbelief. “What are you going to tell your wife kept you away from home 80 late?” “The truth. I was working hard on & business deal.” ‘WIll she belleve you?” “Certainly not. She’d rather believe what she reads about husbands in the comic papers.” “Prudence,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “bids us laugh but seldom. permission of Congress, which added an | utility is & question that is much dis- |y, 4 by laughter that we disclose our smendment to the La Follette anti-[cussed at present, with a tendency of | most intimate weakness—the mental merger act sanctioning the transfer of | opinion in the affirmative. Mr. Britten, | rocess by which we are amused.” such stock as the first step in a merger of the street rallway lines. ‘Whether the North American Company, one of the most powerful in the inter- related group of utility owners and op- erators, ever wanted to effect a merger of the street car lines, or whether it was however, does not undertake in his query to suggest that this be done on s general scale, but he merely pro- poses that for the stretch of a mile and a third or thereabouts from the west boundary of the Capitol Grounds to the Treasury the tracks be removed The Melancholy Motorist. 'Mid changes I must go my way And face new forms of sorrow. I know the parking rules today. What will they be tomorrow? principally interested in getting the Po-|and the street car service replaced by| “Bducation tomae Electric Power Company, has al- busses. Only & careful survey can determine is important,” dat in its my THURSDAY, THIS AND THA BY CHARLES E, TRACEWELL. A gentleman came in with an en- ticing picture of a ramble down a country road in nearby Maryland. “You wrote of country roads recently,” he sald, “but r road is & cit i P I 8 o nitely going eity. “A country road, to be t, has to have & minimum of automobiles. The road you describe has one car after another all dl{ long. “The one know has perhaps s dosen cars & day. You can walk along | Were: it for several miles, if you are lucky, without once smelling gasoline. “Come with me, young fellow, and I will show you @& real country road, where there are high hedgerows, and old barns far back in flelds, with mead- ows, and cows, and brooks, and an floeeum lonal country dog running across eld. “You will find old-fashioned rail fences, and maybe hear the distant sound of a farm bell, ringing to call the hands home for dinner. “Your country road, comj with mine, is a fake and a fraud. It has been years since it has been a true country road. It is almost a city street. “Oh, yes, I know it is t to walk along, in the cool of the morning, before the day's traffic has begun. At|be times, as I have walked along it. I have even imagined it was the real thing. But it is not. Come with me, some time, and I will show you & true country road.” e e Cautiously we inquired if this jaunt would invoive any cliff climbing, creek wading, or cow facing. Let us explain these in order. CIliff climbing is the delight of sturdy persons who find no excitement at all in walking along level places. They want declining paths, worn in the sides of hills, along which one may progress with difficulty by holding to the branches of small trees, If one lets go the tree, or pulls it up by the roots, one will get down to the bottom of the hill in less time than he had been figuring on. It is very exciting, and, if one happens to be of the proper temperament for it, Just the thing for a pleasant afternoon. If one prefers more level walking, Enal precibice, s ditineay” anooriog. small precipice, annoying. It is particularly bad when one comes upon it unexpectedly, especially with a companion whom one wants to im- press. Then there is no backing out. One must be & man and all that sort of thing. He must not see one flinch. Oc{vu one throws one’s rather preclous s sell adown a precipice, not because one has the slightest desire to, but to keep the fellow from thinking one & weakling, & milksop, a dandy, & sissy, and & few other such assorted TEODS. “Great!” one shouts, catching a - ling and nearly yanking it out of the ground. “Great!” The stop is really a_breaf pause, but if one its wildly to scrubby trees over yon- der, and lesses admire them loudly enocugh, the other will think that one has a rather queer taste in trees, but he will be largely down of carried many & man down cliffs and into the enemy's fire. to his utter amasement, he emerges & brave man. ok ok % fooled by it, just better that he 1 One approaches it rather gingerly. There are a few e rocks sticking out of the water. at but there is one and right in the middle of the stream, of course, where only long legs and the leaping abilitles of a goat will one Aacross. 's nof ,” he says, flendishly. “Only about foet , and you can make it easil: Oh, you can make it easily enough! Nothing could be easier for you, you to intimate, than a leap 6 feet broad and perhaps You could do a it deal better than that back ih col , but you are no doubt & bit rusty now. Still, this will ‘easy—not m‘y easy, but positively easant. Positively you step onto the the next. The fool is paying no more attention to you; he has gone on ahead, leaping across the chasm as if it were mere child’s play. He deserves nothing less than drowning, but he doesn’t even get wet. * E ok * As for cow facing, it is ab once an art, a business and a profession. We mean, of course, for the person unac- customed to cows. To face a cow in a all | she gom‘u £ ‘hippopotami urely few her, when it comes to sheer bulk. Now a dosen of her comrades come trooping up from over the shoulder of yonder cgnrm.lnl little knoll, It was charming enough & moment ago, when one thought it unoccupied, but now that it holds a large tonnage of cow, it is & menace. Stealthily the cows advance. And one faces them. This is what s own as cow facing. It is better to face them bluntly, and at once, than after & rapid retreat. The best way is to take one’s seat at the base of a large tree, and to pretend to be reading. ‘This maneuver will cause the cows to become puzzled. They will stand around in a large ring, at a comfortable distance, and make mooing sounds out of the corners of their large mouths, Continue to read. Assure yourself that cows, after all, are comparatively harmless, despite their bulk and horns and their intense curiosity. Remember that the cow is one of mankind's best inquire into, when an enthusiast in with glowing stories of & beautiful country road to be Creek is another little habit | to 'wgfnm Perhaps we should e hiker dif- of confirmed say professional hikers. walker or fers somewhat from the iggers, 1vy, surl, dogs and Jones’ old bull will bo"my. 4 Highlights on the Wide World Excerpts From Newspapers.of Other Lands . ta.—The minis- formed L TIEMPO, Bogo go«mmunamm Among them are & number of native Russiens, who are instilling their So- clalist doctrines into discontented ele- ments among the native A surreptitious stock of other explosives, with tools and terials for the manufacture of infernal machines, has been found at the town of Calamar, where minor political dis- turbances have already occurred. Pam- phlets and placards of a revolutionary character have also been discovered at that , and have been confiscated by the mernn:m‘t oy Men Too Befuddled To Think Straight. Le Matin, Paris.—Are women really more absent-minded than men? The charge often is brought against them, but, it appears to us, not always with justice. Are not men really far more preoccupled than wemenr It is the men who are forever forget- ting their olios, their pocketbooks and their theater tickets. They leave their stock certificates on the cushions of taxicabs, and their office memoranda on restaurant tables. When rebuked for such inadvertencies, men counter with the plea that they have so much to think of, that they are always. en- grossed in serious contemplations and important projects. Women sh-uld al- ways have their wits about them, be- cause they never have anything mo- mentous to reflect upon. This poetic distraction of the feminine sex is all a studied art by which they expect to make themselves more unsophisticated and alluring. Dear me! Just as if the responsi- bility and labor connected with the proper maintenance of a home—if 1o other human business were not in itself sufficient proof and evidence of superior intelligence! In reality, men are gen- lly too beclouded and befuddled to think straight. L Bishops® Refusal May Daily Herald, London—Bish aries and bishops’ palaces are li le.lI be reviewed, following the refu: of Canon A. W. F. Blunt, Vicar of 8t. Wer- to exchange an income 00) & year for the bishopric of Worcester at 23,900 ($19,500) & year, “My financial position would not al- low me to maintain a big household,” said the canon, “The of the bishop is insuff- clent to meet the wishes of the authori- ties that Hartlebury Castle, the an- tique and farspread palace of the see, should be occupled. “A staff of at least 12 would be re- fllndmw h;-p the hmu;"ln ‘nvmt . e order, added, after a the castle. “The trouble is that many of these old palaces are old and tenance,” declared the Rev. Dunnico, M. P., commenting on Canon Bluot's refusal to a Daily Herald repre- sentative recenui. " ‘dome staffs are -necessary; there are constant receptions and en- tertainments, and traveling eats up more money,” he went on. “It is an undoubted fact” said Mr. Dunnico, “that many vicars at £600 ($3,000) & year are much better off than bishops l:. l:y,‘ u',aoo ($21,500).” Serblan Colonisation Aimed To Drive Out Bulgarians. La Macedoine, Geneva (published ex- sale o establish a Serblan element in. Mace- donia is no news. The Berbian colonists receive the most fertile land and obtain every facility, to the detriment of the terror of the intruders. The of Serbian colonization is being Macedonia edonian nd iven to Serblan colonists notorlously ficlent in the knowledge of agricul- ture. Once in possession of the tates, they therefore rent them out again to their previous owners—that is, to the Macedo payment in money or crops. This i8 precisely the same system formerly practiced the Turkish beys. Among these latest and earlier Serblan colonists in Kossovo and Macedonia at least 3,000 know nothing of farming whatever. * K K % Ludendorff Provides Burial Ground for People. Cologne Gazette—Gen, Ludendorft has in the 207-persons-inhabited little vill of Beelenfeld (Souls’ Field), near Miny among the ancient Giants’ Tombs (prehistoric burial mounds), on the moor, established a little cemetery for himself, for his wife and for the whole community of Seelenfeld, which | belongs almost in its entirety to the | Ludendorfl organization known as “The Tannen! (Pine Mountain Band). e sepulchers prepared for occupancy. * % % % Indians Display Knowledge of Civilization. Le Bolell, Quebec.—The Indians who found the airplane of Cannon and Li- zotte evidently knew something of the amenities of modern civilization. The law of demand and supply, if not fa- miliar to them in all of its applica- tions, at least was sufficiently under- stood by them to occasion nln: with the grief of the parents an friends of unfortunate aviators. ‘These Indians demanded $20,000 for the revelation of their secret, though at the time when Jacques Cartier ar- rived upon these shores their ancestors were easily persuaded to exchange some things of far more intrinsic value and importance for a mirror, or a rifle, or a litle firewater. Ah, how true it is that to be “clv- 1lized” does not always mean enhance- ment of principles or morality! ——— States Loosen Hold On Idezls for Money Prom the Savannah Morning News. North Carolina’s Senate is expected to approve a bill to permit pari-mutuel betting at Buncombe Oounty race tracks. A committee already has voted to report it favorably. And this is a sign. It is a sign of a different atti- tude on the part of Legislatures caused by a difference in conditions generally. No sooner did one or two other Btates indicate that they would shorten the of residence required to vorce than Nevada answered with a MARCH 26, 1931. sunny South, when former Governor of New York s many high. | e rst rock and positively you stride to | the many-controlled, and Tammany is the Democratic party in New York City, in the mind of the public. Indeed, the whole Democratic party of the Empire State is linked with Tammany in the public eye. The coming inquiry, there. fore, is likely to cause a lot' of em- barrassment to the Democrats in the State, which cast 96 votes in the national convention—the largest di ation by far. But the Republicans ve made it even more difficult for the Democrats by select former ,» an - t, who cannot be “reached” counsel for the Legislative Committee. This was a Democra as the chief * ko % ‘The Republican attack upon the Democratic national organization, head- ed by Chairman John J. Raskob and by Jouett Shouse, chairman of the Ex- ecutive ittee, will be declared un- fair. But it is political warfare very like the warfare that has been conduct- ed by the Democratic organization irf) the last two years. It is true that Gov. Al Smith made his start as a Tammany Democrat and that he has maini connection with the organization. But Goyv. Smith never allowed Tammany to “put anything over” on him while he was in the Governor's chair. That is old district leaders, John F. Curry. Gov. Roosevelt has not been connected with Tammany. But he is now placed in the position where he must stick by 10| Tammany or go along with the crowd that is out to “clean up” the city gov- ernment of New York. The Governor was under fire from the Democratic press in his own State last year because he declined to order more invesf tions of the courts in New York City. ‘They charged at the time he was yleld- ing to Tammany Hall, * Kok ok Gov. Roosevelt’s decision now in re- gard to the charges filed against Mayor “Jimmy” Walker by the City Affairs Committee, and to the legislative in- vestigation, is likely to have a good deal to do not only with his own politi- that of his native population, Who live in perpetual [ WY Serblan process encouraged especially in those districts | 17 DEER ‘There is oné Democrat in N however, who is likely to be in lic eye, favorably, for months That is Judge Samuel Sork Gty Judge Beabury time & justice of the S of New York and later the Court of Appeals of N 1916 he left the bench and ran f Governor on the Democratic ticket. that year New York went for Cha Evans Hughes for President and bury went down to defeat before Republican opponent. Judge Seabury is no longer a young man, but he is vigorous and highly regarded in New York City and throughout the State. ‘Whether he will loom up as a national figure as a result of the coming inves- ug‘uon nml;lm to be seen. Other in- v Chief Justice Hughes, have far in thelr public careers. i EER - The Tammany investigation not onl; pmh.mbnmlwmmu: already are| pe organization in the recent the Democratic National Mr. Raskob . But while the Democrats na- tionally may swallow a wet candidate and might even make a ‘moist gesture in their party platform, though that 1s a more remote pmmct. they are not likely to take & candidate who is mixed up in Tammany scandals, * K K % ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. ‘The Indian i g i i3 g 5 g g ; . £ i i : : it g §§§§§g 5 i X come to the ‘The Republicans see a chance to & hammer their Democratic opponents in this New York situation now developing. It offers them & chance to drive home a wedge between the Democrats of the 5 North and East and those of the South and West. Nor are the Republicans likely to be slow in this matter, as in- dicated by the offensive now opened | ists by Senator Jones of Washington. The Democrats have sought to ly by picturing the_conditions in Chicago, where “Big Bill” Thompson, & Re- publican, is mayor. But the trouble about that as a reply to the Repub- licans les in the fact that Chicago plays no part in Republican national Eolmu comparable to the played y New York in the pollf of the national Democratic party. » W ‘There have been four deaths among the members elected to the House for the Seventy-second Two of R lew 3 ve filled other Democrats. determination to reduce its term to six :‘“ ‘weeks. What all these States are after is business, visitors, money. In boom times they probably would not sacrifice their ideas about divorce and but ‘when money is scarce to do unusual things. it governmental cen- | the accoun ob:nr of . Cooper lected lected for so many years in his district, where he was_highly regarded, that it was re- irded as the Cooper Now, owever, - the ‘“regular” Republicans there are likely to make a hard te one of their kind. tative. The La on the other “It would be & buumdll %0 315 for the g 2 £ § ! g & i i i Ji Lincoln & palterer to the abol River is a long Ia- K| g B < o B> jinit gk i ! ] ] £8! 2 E g i 3 § - ! é a - i é;?i £ £ o Bk S 15552 BoR 28 S g United l;‘hhu u;dvflld]. ’;l in m-ll:r measure,” continues this journal, point- ing out that “India has become an in. miilior | i, R Evening Nt thinks