Evening Star Newspaper, May 1, 1931, Page 8

. THE EVENING STAR 7wt Sunday Merning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. FRIDAY...........May 1, 1031 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .Editor The lm.fi% per Company litk St Pegneyivania Ave New ice: 110 East 42nd 5 m%fi:fi%wmw Rate by Carrier Within the City. ng Star.... ... 4Scpermonth Hinday Biar laver s> 5% goc per monta i ‘65¢ per month ar B per copy de at the end of each month. sent in by mail or telephone T Atio) .'f' 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. uo%. 1mo., 85c . $6.00: 1 mo.. 50c | $4.00; 1 mo., 40c 1yrl 1yl All Other States and Canada. ily and Sunday...] yr.$12.00: 1 mo.. $1.00 g:l‘x only ... iyr’ 1800 1 mo. 78c janday only '......'1yr. $5:00; 1mo. 50c Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively ertitled to The AN For Fepublication of il news dis s sl P o el el dispatches herein are also 1eserved. pubil; special — ‘Where Responsibility Lies. Benator William E. Borah has rushed to the defense of Congress. He dislikes the suggestion, coming from the Pres- ident, that the national legislature is responsible for constantly rising ex- penditures of public funds. He charges that the executive departments of the Government are striving ccnstantly to have the appropriations enlarged, and that Congress has actually reduced the budget recommendations of the admin- istration by many millions of dollars. The Idaho Senator, indeed, waxes in- dignant. The Congress, he insists, shall suffer wrong no more. But here is the testimony of Repre- eentative Will Wood of Indiana, chair- man for many years of the House Ap- propriations Committee, which gives a very different picture of the situation from that presented by Senator Borah. Mr. Wood says that the Borah state- ment does not present the real vice of the growth of Government expenditures. ‘That vice, Mr. Wood insists, is to be found in the authorization bills passed by Congress over the opposition, in many cases, of the Executive. It is found also, Mr. Wood contends, in the legislation which calls for expenditures in excess of those recommended by the Executive. Mr. Wood should and does know what he is talking about. He is in a position to know. He is chairman of the com- mittee in which all appropriation bills originate. It is his committee which has pared, and pared again, the items of the budget. But Mr. Wood has seen Congress go ahead, despite warnings from its own members 2s well as from the Executive, with authorizations of expenditure for new projects, some of them running into hundreds of millions of dollars. After those authorizations of the Department has been the adoption of rooms of this free of accumulations on the tops of beams and on ledges and floors. Ventilator systems have been installed. Sweeping devices have been devel to maintain cleanliness in establish- ments where dust is a by-product of manufacture. It is impossible to determine how many lives have been saved by these precautions, adopted in consequence of the Government's promoticn of yesterday's demonstration illustrates, the fact that finely pulverized material is explosive is not yet generally under- stocd. Constant care must be main- tained. Carelessness and slackness in industrial housekeeping must be check- ed and corrected. Workmen and super- intendents of plants must be made to know and constantly to remember that there is danger in the odorless, in- visible, intangible fragments of physical matter that float abcut in workshops. By a coincidence, on Tuesday while this demonstaasion was being made at Arlington a newly developed oil well in Texas was ignited and.an explosion re- sulted which took the lives of many persons. ‘This appears to have been caused by a chance spark flying from a collision of two bits of metal at the mouth of the drill. Every known pre- caution is always taken in such cases, and yet this tiny bit of flame may be produced thrcugh the eccentricity of matter, with disastrous results. et The Presidency of France. They do some of these things better im France. For instance, the election of the President of the republic. Here in the United States the people fuss and fret a full year and a half ahead of the time about who shall be the next occupant of the White House. In France, they stew for a bare fortnight over the matter of selecting a new chief executive. Gaston Doumergue has been President since 1924. The statutory term of seven years expires on June 13, yet it was not known until this week when election day would come. It has been fixed for May 13. Exactly a month later the successful candidate takes of- |fice. Who is to run for the presidency even now remains to be seen. Prance does not elect her Presidents by popular vote, as we do, by way of the electoral college. Nor does a French President begin to wield power com- mensurate with that of the head of this Republic. The French Chamber of Dep- uties and the Senate meet in joint ses- sion on election day in the historic Pal- ace of Versailles and there select the future chief of the state. The real leader of the Paris government is the premier, who holds office by grace of a majority in the Chamber of Deputies. M. Doumergue has made one of the most popular and succcssful Presidents France has had in a generation. He could have a second term for the asking, but, emulating the self-denial of a cele- | i are made by Congress, it becomes neces- | prated American statesman, he does not. sary for the Executive to have the|choosetorun. Untilthe propesed German- Budget Bureau submit estimates of | Aystrian customs union took French di- appropriations to cover those author-|plomacy by surprise, Aristide Briand dred and twenty miles an hour, mak- ing the run in Aifty-nine minutes. And now he is enjoying his Irish vacation so0/much that he proposes to extend it and set up a few other marks before he returns to this country. Capt. Hawks, probably more than any other pilot, has demonstrated the poten- tialities of the airplane for lightning- fast transportation and by doing so has given impetus to the demand for speed and more speed in the air, & de- mand that must be answered by air- plane and motor builders. Because of his exploits the day is not far off when the speed of transport planes will be materially increased. ————r——————— A Tribute to the Bench. Last evening an occasion of unusual significance and interest occurred when the members of the District bar gave a testimonial dinner to a group of justices of the Supreme and Appeals Courts of this jurisdiction. Six jurists were welcomed to the bench and one was bidden farewell, in anticipation of his prospective early retirement after twenty-six years of service. The meet- ing was both happy and sad, but the sadness was tempered by the assurance } that the retiring justice will continue to make his home in Washington after he has laid off the gown of office. Justice Wendell Phillips Stafford, & native of Vermont, came to Washington upon his appointment in 1904 and won the hearts of the District people by his gentleness of spirit, his ripeness of judgment. his literary talents and his judicial ability. He has been the “wise and upright judge.” He has been the friend of all, those who have come be- fore him for judgmeiX, those who have practiced before him in prosecution or defense. And now that he has wearied of his long task and seeks respite in retirement he is given sincere testi- monial of regard and affection by those with whom he has been associated for nearly three decades. Those others who were hailed in greeting upon their appointment or promotion upon the District bench are now on duty in those roles—Justices Hitz and Groner of the Court of Appeals and Justices Adkins, Cox, Luhring and Proctor of the Supreme Court. These men, with their colleagues of earlier appointment, constitute a District bench of exceptional ability and character, and | it is fitting that they should be given, as on this occasion, so genuine a tribute as that tendered last night by the bar of the Capital. e —e— Poor old Armenia—she has been tak- ing it on the chin in one way or an- other since before the days of imperial Rome. The starvation period there has lasted about 2,000 years. The latest is a devastating earthquake. There is a country that needs and deserves a bet- ter break. —_— e Another eminent Britisher, G. K. Chesterton, is safely home again and expressing the loud yawp that America is pretty terrible. Add one more to list of Englishmen whose books are great, but whose manners are fierce. the long ) izations. The Executive!is helpless to do otherwise. Mr. Wood's statement is couched in mild language. Nevertheless he calls attention to Senator Borah's own suppcrt of projects opposed by the ad- ministration in the last session of Con- gress which would have added hun- dreds of millions of dollars to the Government's expenditures if Congress bad followed the lead of Mr. Borah. Among them were the Muscle Shoals bill, which would have called for en outlay of $100,000,000 and at the same time would have brought the Pederal Government further into the bu- reaucracy of which Mr. Borah ecm- plains bitterly. Senator Borah, he points out, also supported the export | debenture for farm products which weuld have rolled up another $300,- 000,000 of Government expenditure. Nor did Mr. Wood overlook the pas- sage of the soldiers’ bonus loan bill by the Jast Congress which has increased the outlay by the Government by about | $1,000,000,000. This measure was vetoed by President Hoover and Congress promptly passed the measure over the veto. Senator Borah, as Mr. Wood says, voted against the passage of this bill. But that fact does not relieve Congress of responsibility in the pas- sage of this legislation. And the final words of the statement | issued by Mr. Wood in reply to Senator | Borah are perhaps more significant than all the rest. “Everybody know: he , “that every doliar of Federal money expended must first be author- ized by Congress.” The fact of the matter is that Con- | gress is under great pressure from gToups of constituents to authorize ap- | propriations for many causes. It has | ylelded constantly to this pressure. On the other hand, federal departments | have been prone to get {from the federal | treasury as large appropriations as they | can squeeze out. It is time a halt was called on both sides. B - | It is a good bet that among the few un- | fulfilled desires of young Bryan Untiedt was a longing to be big enough to get | into that matutinal medicine ball ses- | alon on the White House lawn ¥ [ Dust Explosions. i Tuesday a series of demonstrations | conducted at the Arlington experi- | mental farm of the Department of Agri- | culture gave dramatic fliustration of the | fact that dust is explosive. Quantiiies | limited to the fact that white elephants ranked as Doumergue's almost certain successor, The veteran foreign minister and former premier is not out of the running, but the feeling that Berlin and Vienna caugnt Briand napping has put him from the front to the rear of the race. Any citizen of France is eligible to the presidency except a member of a former reigning house. The constitu- tional theory is that the Chief Executive shall be neutral in thought and deed. Usually he has been a colorless figure- head. But there have been exceptions. Raymond Poincare, President in 1914, when war came, was far from being a cipher. To his visit to Russia in that Red Summer the Teutonic powers large- ly attributed the ensuing outbreak. Alexandre Millerand, who was elected President in 1920, was so active a tenant of the Elysee Palace that Premier Her- riot compelled him to eviguate in 1924, when Doumergue came in. Prench Presidents,. through their privilege of presiding over cabinet meetings, oecupy highly strategic posi- tions and witld immeasurable influence despite,_ their Jack of authority. Gaston Doumergue, vho proved himself a mas- ter tactician in steering the French ship of slate through seven years of tempes- tucus parliamentary waters, leaves office at an bour when his political tact would serve France well. He prefers to return to his vineyards in the calmer provineces, to rest on laurels garnered during seven years of his country’s greatest prosperity, 8ix internationally staffed weather observation stations will be in operation in the Arctic next Summer. Mark Twain’s declaration that everybody talks about the weather but that no- body ever does anything about it is fast proaching a state of fallacy, for by this system droughts, rainfalls and| variations of magnetic storms may eventually be predicted with consequent world benefit. ‘The visit of their majesties of Siam and its attendant publicity should be an educational eye-opener for the many whose entire knowledge of that prosper- ous and highly civilized monarchy is and little fighting .fith are thought of within its boundaries. B “What trees grow the largest in the vicinity of Washington?” was a recent | query in a question-and-answer column. That is easy: Pamily trees. s v - highly of finely powdered material were det- i onated with loud noses and evidence Hawks in Europe. of great force. It was a completely suc- , “ppm.ontly not satisfied with the cessful showing of the dynamic power many records for speed that he has of dust in certain conditicns. This has established in this country, Capt. been known a long time. The De-|Frank Hawks, the “flying bullet,” is partment of Agriculture has for a con- showing them a thing or two on the| siderable number of years conducted |Other side of the Atlantic. Yesterday, experiments in dust detonation and has_ for instance, he casually flew the two sccumulated valuable data on the sub- | hundred anc eghty-five miles from | ject that have been spread widelyLondon to Dublin in an hour and forty through the country in warning and | minutes, bettering the best previous guidance to manufacturers and have led jmark by more than an hour. Before to precautions that have undoubtedly that he had chmbed into his little red averted disaster. moncpiane one day at London and set Explosicns in mills, particularly flour- | out for Rome, mnine hundred miles mills and sawmills, where fine dust is away. He got there all right in just a created by the manufacturing processes, ' trifie over five hours, crossing the Alps, were for a long time cloaked in mys- |which according to him “make the ‘This is the season of the publication of the winners of beauty contests among co-eds on campuses of colleges never before heard of and mentioned not again until next Spring. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Rules Suspended. It's just for the sake of the rhyming You venture a song of the May; It's all for the lilting and chiming, To a tune that, informally gay, For the blossoming trees, And the wandering bees, And the wild birds all whatever they please, With a quainily melodious twist To a tune that informally gay, Set a pace that you cannot resist When you venture a song of the May. ing A message of tenderest cheer. 1t's just for the sake of the singing That welcome resounds far and near. The rollicking rill, As it leaps from the hill, lar skill, As it echoes in murmuring low The tunes that it learned on its way Yet there sounds in its bubble and flow A typical song of the May. Pleasures of Observation. “What is your favorite game?” “Golf,” replied Senator Sorghum. “But you never play it.” “Probably that's the reason I like it The men whom I have seen playing it abused it terribly and didn't appear to and the scenery.” Jud Tunkins says & man with & big voice and broad shoulders can always get a reputation for being wise if he doesn’t insist on talking too much. Ominous Nonchalance. “I sentence you to two years prison,” said the judge “Well, judge,” replied Plodding Pete, “I know you are doing this to humiliate me. But I want to remind ycu that some very wealthy and some very talent- ed people have been going to prison lately.” in Art and Nature, The comic picture cheers our eyes ‘With quaint contortions, day And ve: how we would sympathize 1f anybody grew that way! da; Definition. “What is your idea of plagiarism?” “Plagiarism,” replied the dramatic author, “usually consists of putting into practical form a plot which' some con- temporary borrowed from an earlier American author, who had borrowed it from the English, who had borrowed it from some Frenchman, German or Italian, who had, borrowed it from the Greeks.” The Impressionable Public. There are men who speak rather de- liriously ‘Who, we find as we watch day by day, tery. There secmed to be no tangible | Rockies look like ant-hills,” at an alti- cause for them and they were usually |tude cf twenty-three thousand feet attributed to boiler failures. When the | without the use of oxygen. And then, dust theory was developed and dzmon- | just for good measure, on the way back strated it was found that these disasters |to the English metropolis he stopped were due to detonations caused by the at Le Bourget to see what he cculd do of matter about the Paris-London record. covered the two hundred and eighteen By the public are taken quite seriously When they don't take themselves much that way. 5 “If de world jedged a man by what he starts,” said Uncle Eben, “instid o' by He what he finishes, every page in de city ple directory would be full o’ great men.” singing | When the delicate perfumes are bring- | Doesn't claim to show -any particu- | get any enjoyment out of the fresh air | THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Have woodpeckers any brains? When we saw one drumming away on a metal downspout we were willing to answer that question in the negative. And there we would have been as far off as most human beings are when they attempt to poke fun at others without knowing the facts. Looking into the matter, we discovered that woodpeckers, comprising the great family of Picidae, have a habit of drum- ming with their beaks in lieu of a love song. We had been privileged to listen to music without knowing it! S After that we turned a,_more appre- ciative ear to our woodpecker friend as he sat every morning under the eaves rattling away his tune on the down- spout. It was a merry staccato, indeed, a pleasing, musical sound—after one realized what it was all about. Maybe this bird was the Shakespeare of woodpeckers riveter's “gun.” was a better sonnet than Elizabeth Browning ever wrote. From nonsense his rapid rat-tat-tat had become supreme sense, in vast and comfortable harmony with the green, | growing Spring. o . * ‘The woodpecker is a canny bird, after all. Do you know what material he uses to line his nest with? Chips, of course ‘Why should he rap away by the hour, as he =0 often does, without putting his chippings to some good use? sensible fellow, the woodpecker gathers up his chips. ‘as they fall, or perhaps after they fall What material could make a baby woodpecker feel more at home than wood? * ok K * takes the prize when it comes to brains. His scientific name is Melanerpes Formicivorus. busy bee and the provident ant to shame, It fs said that he takes acorns— scores of acorns—and fixes them in holes which he drills in the trunks of trees. No, he doesn’t put them there for a Winter food supply. He migrates during the Winter. * oK K % But do not be too hasty to call the California woodpecker a fool. Remember the downspout love call. Old Melanerpes Formicivorus has no ude for those acorns until he comes back the next Spring. ‘golfi inclosed in each one will be just | right for eating. How he knows how to pick an acorn | with & maggot in it God alone knows. | But that 15 not all of his wisdom. After drilling his hole in the tree trunk and finding the proper sort of | acorn he has just begun. The slickest thing the woodpecker does is this: He fits the acorn into the tree cup end foremost, so that the insect cannot escape. % The new Eneyclopedia Brittanica, to J Never in the history of the Govern- | ment, and never, of course, in the young annals of radio, has there been quite such an event as the forthcoming series of Government broadcasts to be given weekly in the National Radio Forum, beginning tomorrow night. The talks, arranged by The Star and to be de- livered over the coast-to-coast network of the Columbia Broadcasting System, will be delivered by different members of the cabinet in succession, until all 10 have been heard from. Secretary of the Interior Wilbur leads off. By the ‘time the geries ends on July 4. with Secretary of Labor Doak at the microphone, every major problem fac- ing the Hoover administration will have been discussed. bring Uncle Sam’s business directly to the people’s attention has the enthusi- | astic indorsément of the President. For sort of thing for which radio is de- signed. The heads of the exccutive departments themselves are keenly in- terested in the unique opporturity to inside of the Ship of State at this vital juncture of national history. R When the Hon. Vincent ormer Canadian Minister to the United ates, quit his post in Washington & year ago, he expected he would shortly be sent to London as Canadian high commissioner, a blue ribbon ment. The accomplished voung diplo- mat did not reckon with mpending Canadian _elections, to sweep his party. office of his preparations to go to England Mr, Massey sudden statesman out, of a job. Prime Minister Bennett handed over the London high commissionership to a prominent Con- servative politician, former Premier Ferguson of Ontario. The explanation was that the Dominion's representative in the oid country ought to be somebody in close political sympathy with the party in power at Oftawa. Washinglon friends hear that Mr. Massey, Who is & man of scholarly attainments, is slated | to succeed Sir Robert Falconer as pres- | ident of the University of Toronto. * ok x * New England has another Republican candidate for the speakership of the House besides Representative Tilson of Connecticut, The latest aspirant is Rep- resentative Robert Luce of Waltham, Mass. He makes the third Easterner who has his eyes on the gavel, the other being Representative Snell, Republican, of New York. Supporters of Luce base their hopes on the belief that neither | Tilson nor Snell will be able to swing the full G. O. P. strength, and that therefore there's a good chance for a | compromise candida‘e from the Atlantic seaboard. A quiet canvass now under way reveals that the Massachusetts man being the sccond choice of some mem bers, might prove a dark horse satisfa to all groups. Luce is one of the most cultured students of government in Congress, and is perhaps the foremost authority on parliamentary procedure. the Liberals, out of | i | { 1 Perhaps his deft roll, resembling the | Being, as we have discovered, a most | ‘The California woodpecker, however, | His achievement with acorns puts the By that time he knows that the mas-} The use of the air to | years he has held that it is exactly the | take the folks back home through the | Massey, | appoint- | which were about | The result was that in the midst | found himself a | which we are indebted for these facts, says that often these trees will appear to be studded with nails to a height of 40 or 50 feet. And each “nail” contains a nice grub in cold storage, unable to get out! Re- member thet if you are ever tempted to call a woodpecker a fool to his face. * 8w The flicker is a sort of woodpecker which specializes on ants. There were two of them in our back- yard the other evening, just at sunset. They are large birds, hence their at- tention to the base of a tree was re- sented. They kbpt pecking away until we thought we had better go out and in- vestigate. Here again our lack of understanding of woodpeckers made us get the wrong slant on the creatures. When we got there we discovered a swarm of ants, upon which the birds had been feasting. Had we let the flickers alone, no doubt they would have. devoured every one. All the woodpeckers, including the flickers and the so-called sapsuckers, are fond of ants, grasshoppers and other ground insects. If you see them eating away, let them alone, for they are doing you a service. * K Kk Here is another nature note, hot oft the griddle of life: A pair of bluejays, saucy birds, are having great sport these days in chas- ing a yellow cat out of a tree, Evidently they have a nest somewhere in_the vicinity. Their idea, evidently—and it is a good one—is to lure the cat into the wrong tres. Both birds participate in this feat, but the male takes the most active part. He will perch in a branch some two or three feet, at tte most, from the cat’s head. ‘There he will hop around, as if dar- ing th> cat to come on. He flies to another branch, over to one side, but even closer. * Bk ‘The cat advances cautiously, whiskers | taut, eyes gleaming. | The bluejay sees that the time has ccme for drastic action. | He flies straight at the animal. With a swoop he goes past, ruffling the hair along the cat's backbone. “The bluejay is now four feet to one | side. | " He hops to a slightly higher branch, and again launches himself. ‘h Tl?:s time he pecks the cat on the | back. * ok ok ok ‘The bird is now keeping the cat so busy that it has no time to do anything but hold on. And look somewhat amazed. It has no chance whatever of catch- ing the bluejays, and scems to real- | lize it. The birds fly to a branch together, and seem to consult. You can almost | hear one of them say, “I think I have him scared now. Let us fly away for a time.” So, amid a flutter of blue, they dis- appear, leaving a screly puzzled cat to an empty honor and tree. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. Sir Ronald Lindsay, the British Am- | bassador at Washingtcn, has gone to Canada on a semi-private visit to Sir | William Clark, British high commi | sioner to the Dominion. While in Of | tawa, where he expects to remain a | fortnight, Sir Ronald will, of course, | pay his respects to King George's new | representative there, Lord Bessborough, | who recently arrived to fulfill the func- | tions of British governor general. It is | the high commissioner’s duty to serve as the official link between the “mother government” at London and the “daughter” government at Ottawa. The governor general's job is largely decora- | tive, as he is merely the personal rep- resentative cf the sovereign. The Brit- ish Ambassador to the United States has no formal jurisdiction in Canada, but Sir Ronald Lindsay is anxious to unfurl his flag at Ottawa, where the new Conservative government of Prime Minister Bennett is now in office. * * * * There's recently been a revolution in Washington—in the taxicab industry— and a Spaniard led it. Moreover, the Spaniard is a woman, who drives a taxi ordinarily to be found at a stand acro: the strect from the Treasury. She young, pretty, a bobbed-hair brunette, and speaks English with a Maurice | Chevalier accent. The senorita has been at the wheel in Washington only a cou- ple of months, but knows her traflic onions like a veteran. PR A well known F street merchant long has been famed in Washington as a double of Al Smith. But it was only the other night that he was made to realize how sirong the resemblance fs. He was eating after-theater griddle cakes in a Pennsylvania avenue restau- rant, when a group of tourists peering | through the window convinced them- selves that the id:l of Manhattan was inside. They came in, sat down at an adjoining table and procceded to en- gage the pseudo Al in conversation. Soon it was noised all over the place that “Gov. Smith” was_there, and a crowd closed in on him. The merchant, who immensely enjoyed the racket, gct away after signing “Yours truly, Al Smith,” on half a dozen cards. | (Copyright, 1931.) | r———— Urgesfirl’alrons to Be As Polite as Clerks | To the Editor of The Star: So much always has been said about the courtesy of sales pcople to the public, I am wondering if there ever has been anything said about the cour- tesy of the public to the sales people. Take for mple: A purchaser or perhaps a pective customer goes into a store, and a smiling clerk ad- nees with a pleasant “May I wait on 2" Is it not courtesy to say nk you, I am just looking around? pass on with a grim, set look and no ~ | answer at all? | ™" The clerk had asked a civil courte- ous question intending to render the | customer a service. It is the aim of | every good salesman to be of service The salesman_displays Or, s it more courteous to | i (e to the public. Both heads of the Government— |his or her wares in a neat and orderly President Hoover and Vice President|way so they may look attractive. Is Curtis—will be on the once embattléd | it courteous to pull and “dig under” scil of Pennsylvania on Memorial day, | the neatly arranged rows to examine May 30. While the President is speak- ing at Valley Forge, Mr. Curtis will hold forth at Gettysburg. Peace is expected to be their joint theme. - * ok ox ok In a speech last night at Philadelphia, Huston Thompson of Washington, for- mer chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, took direct issue with his man of the National Committee, on economic issues. It is Raskob's plan to have the Federal Trade Commission rule in zdvance on projected industrial mergers that arouses Thompson's op} sition. R2skob would have it so that in the Pederal Trade Commission O.K.'d plans submitted by big business, a com- bination might be formed without fear of criminal prosecution. “The trouble with Mr. Reskob's scheme,” sald Thompson, “is that irreparable damage might be done to the public or a com- petitor before the commission could determine whether a proposal or policy, which had been approved. was going to turn out so unfair or wrong as to merit condemnation. Exactly that kind of & situation was in the late Pierpont Mor- gan's mind in 1912 when he told a Sen. ate committee that ‘You can’t unscram- that which has once been scrambled.’ ” fellow Democrat, John J. Raskob, chair- | | each and every one, when you intend | to purchase only onc? | be much more courteous to smile and ask the clerk to let you see a certain | article, than to try to find it your- self? When the clerk is very busy try- ing to wait on several impatient cus- tomers as quickly as possible, is it | courteous to keép up a continual “Wait |on me next?” Perhaps the clerk is making change, or has several orders |on her mind, trying to use and con- | centrate all her power upom speedy and accurate service to both employer |and_customer. When a_patient clerk has as much as he or she can attend to. is it cour- tesy to flounce away grumbling to the | floor manager in a sarcas‘ic manner | about “Some service here!” | You know there are many rules that rks have to obey in any place of | business—these rules naturally are not | known to the public, and the public oculd appreciate the fact that a firm has a loyal clerk who is the ‘‘goat” | between the firm and the prospactive buyer. Just a little patience and courtesy on the part of the public always will meet the courtesy and patience on the rt of the clerk, whose aim is to please pri nd to give “service with a smil>" JU]ANITA RICE. ‘Wouldn't it! Called Useless Cruelty To the Rditor of The St This is Be Kind to Animals week. ‘The street cars are bearing the slogan. But will people be kind? Horses are be- ing worked on the streets of the city with iron bits sawing into raw flesh-in the corners of their mouths caused by overchecking—the most senseless form of eruelty, which serves no purpose and wears out the animal more than the work it is doing. The reason the work animal “téars” for home at quitting time is because it knows when it reaches the barn the torture will be re- moved. Many drivers think the checkrein ust be short or the animal will not stand.” Nothing is farther from the real fact. The reason the creature does not “stand” quietly is because of the torture it is compelled to endure from cramped muscles and smarting flesh. A forse can be beaten into submission, but its uneasy head still will plead for re- lief. Release the check and the horse will gladly remain quiet. This state- ment is worth proving. In the last issue of the Humane Quarterly, Secretary Heap says: eheckrein on work horses is inexcusable as well as cruel. It holds the head in an unnatural position, strains the mus- cles of the neck and causes intense ain. Its use should be prohibited by aw. In pulling a load the horse must put its head down. A checkrein pre- vents it from doing this and reduces its efficienc; In the city of Berlin, Germany, every work horse is equipped with a breast collar and no checkreins are used. The loads are immense, but when the ve- hicle is standing the horses rest guietiy recouping strength for further useful- ness. MRS. CARRIE K. HUNTINGTON. “Be Friendly” Toward Children, Is Advised To the Editor of The Sta: I venture to say a word in behalf of the “vandal children” so bitterly com- plained of by E. B. Newman in The Evening Star. It is said that we each have a dual nature, good and bad. We express either ‘side, according to the influences with which we come in contact. This fact is as true of children as of adults. The influence exerted by Mr. Newman on the children of his neighborhood s sufficiently indicated by the high fence, hedges and trellis with which he barri- caded his property, and by his appeals to_the police for protection, with the calls made by the police on the parents of the “vandals.” Nothing could have been better calculated to arduse the re- sentment of both children and parents. My experience with children has b2en different from that related by Mr. New- man. For 17 years we have lived across the street from a 16-room school, housing some 700 children. We have a garden filled with flowers in season upon which we have bestowed much work and in which we take pardonable pride. Along the garden runs an alley traversed by scores of children on their way to and from school. There is a suggestion of a fence, but with full view of every plant, and with open gate through which any one may enter. Unlike Mr. Newman, we have never been molested, the flowers are never picked. and vandalism is unknown. The day after Halloween our property is in the same condition as on the day before. ‘The reason for all this is that my wife has the faculty, perhaps rare, of making friends with all children. She does not permit trespassing in the gar- den, but her warnings are given in a manner free from offense. Throughout the 17 years of our residence it has never occurred to us to call in the Newman says, “Surely there must be some way to handle the situ- ation.” There is. It is expressed in two words, “Be friendly.” I would commend to Mr. Newman's attention the following, which he will find en- graved over one of the entrances to Union Station: “Be noble! and the nobleness that lies In other men, sleeping but never dead, Will rise in majesty to meet thine own. This applies to men of all ages, even boys! CLINTON R. THOMPSON. Auto Congestion Here Blamed on Tram Fares To tha Editor of The Star: There are many people who drive to work in their autos and leave them parked in the streets in the downtown section until they quit work in the eve- ning, all day long. The high car and bus fares are more to blame for this feature of all-day parking than any- thing else. If fares on street cars and busses were reasonable, many who own autos would leave them at home and uze the street cars to go to and from work. Automobiles are continually on the increase, and busses and taxis are bid- ding successfully for strect car traffic, and in many places they have actually driven many of them out of business on account of their high fares. The large number of District and Federal Government employes here who earn good money are able to own autos and use them to and from work, and some regulation was actually needed to pro- hibit all-day parking in the downtown section which interfered with those who used autos to make purchases at the stores and business houses. In crder to relieve some of this downtown auto congestion, some big stores provide free parking space for those who deal with them, and even have demolished good residences to make parking space available for them. Five-cent car fare works in New York City and it probably would increase street car traffic here. Why not try it for a time? H. T. McCONVEY. Rejects Bloom’s Denial Of Cherry Tree Legend To the Editor of The Star: Reading_the pretty story Representa- tive Soi Bloom had printed in your Sunday paper, I was rather abashed to think that he would expect the public to accept one unauthentic story to repudidate another unauthentic story. Was Mr. Bloom present at the time the dear old lady’s master stroke of trees for a profit? ¢ ? No. Then isn't the idea of the article rather inconsistent? Who cares whether either one of the stories is true? Naturally the com- mercially minded man of the world with no special bent toward truthful- ness will prefer the story of planting trees for profit. Those of us who have been closely associated with thousands of our dear boys and girls prefer to use the story that symbolizes & trait of character of dependability. In fact there are so many splendid qualities of character and ability in George Washington that we know were true that it is childish to give either time or thought to cherry trees and scandal. (MISS) P. MILLER. —.—a Corrects Letter Based To the Editor of The Star: Please permit me to correct a portion of & letter of mine which you published in The Star on April 29. For one thing, the letter was headed, “Defends Coal Dealers on 2,000-pound Ton.” Two thousand pounds is not a legal ‘ton for coal in the District, and I did not intend it to be designated as a ton, but simply as 2,000 pounds, the weight by which it is being shipped here. Another thing I especially desire to correct is that you cannot multiply 2,000 pounds by 1.2 per cent and get the price of 2,240 pounds. You must multiply the price of 2,000 pounds by 1.12 per cent to get the price of 2,240 pounds. For example, say that the price of stove coal is $12.55 for 2,000 pounds. By multiplying $12.55 by 112, the answer will be $14.06, which 1is the ice 2,240 would be in proportion. Trusting you will publish this at an early date. WM. T. W. GRAVES. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Many readers send in questions signed l lages: Flemalle-Haute, Flemalle Grande, only. with initials, asking that the an- Yvoy-Ramet and Jemeppe-sur-Meuse. swers appear in the newspaper. The | There were 70 deaths, mostly among old space is limited and would not accom- and ill people, and 300 were stricken. modate a fraction of such requests. The | The fog acted like a blanket, prevent! answers published are ones that may | circulation of air. Authorities decl interest many readers rather than the |that it came from industrial sulphurous one who asks the question only. All|fumes combined with fog. The villages questions should be accompanied by the affected were in the valley of the Meuse ;flle:‘l name nnd‘lddre«:l n:sfle 2dcmu | River. coin or stamps for reply. Send you: - question to The Evening Star Inform: ‘ Q. Where is the tion Bureau, Prederic J. Haskin, di-| the United States? rector, Washington c. A. The editor of the Modern Hospital s Magazine says: “I believe that St. | Q. How does an airplane collect water | Elizabeth’s Hospital at Washington, D. to compensate for the weight of the |C., is the largest, while Cook County Hos- fuel burned?—R. M. D. | pital of Chicago is the largest general A The water recovery apparatus used | pital, and possibly the on airships consists of a condenser | largest hospital.” | which collects the water of combustion | = {formed by the combination of the hy- Q. How much drogen in the gasoline with the oxygen | of chocolate>—M. of the air. When ordinary aviation| A. One-third cup cocoa is equivalent gasoline is. used, about 140 pounds of | to one square (ounce) of chocolate. In water is formed in burning 100 pounds using cocca in a recipe where choco- largest hospital in A H second cocon equals a square K. of fuel. The condensing method simply cools the engine exhaust gas to within a few degrees of air temperature and separates entrained moisture from the gases as \ney leave the apparatus. Q. Who 15 in_charge of the leper ;olonyz on the Island of Molokai?— A. It is under supervision of the United States Public Health Service. Q. What are precatory words?>—G. R. A. Broadly, they are words of prayer, supplication and beseeching. In law, such phrases “it is my wish and de- sire,” “entreal ‘heartily beseech,” when contained in a will in which no express trust is created, nevertheless will be construed by the courts as implying an intent to create a trust. Q. If hot metal becomes porous, would small quantities of carbon monoxide seep through a manifold heater on an automobile’—R. H. A. The Bureau of Standards says it is not believed that appreciable amounts of carbon monoxide ever would be found in manifold heaters, as a result of gas seeping through sound metal even though the metal is hot. The presence of carbon monoxide in such heaters usually is due to leaks in the manifold joints or to cracks or pin holes in the manifold metal. Such leaks may be evident only when the manifold heats up and may practically disappear again as the metal cools. Q. What was actually means by lares and penates?—C. E. D. A. The expression is used collectively to denote the personal and individual belongings in a home which make it distinctively one’s home. In ancient Rome, the lares” were the household gods, -usually deified ancestors or heroes; the penates were also guardian deities of the household and the state, but ‘were more in the nature of personifica- tions of natural powers, their duty be- ing to bring wealth and plenty rather than to ward off danger. it contained the letter “r"?—M. L. G. A. The original word contained an “r"it was spelled “coronel.” Q: How long has the Ijj used?—-M. © g pstick been thousands of years. Women have from time immemorial sought to enhance their charms by the use of cosmetics, among which the lipstick was one of the first. Q. What town felt the Belgian fog? How many people were killed>—L. C. A. The Belgian fog fell on Tuesday morning, February ‘3, 1931, in the Liege Q. Why is “colonel” pronounced as if | A. It has been used as a cosmetic for | late is called for, an additional one- half tablespoon of shortening should be added to the cocoa. qu'v Who were the Mamelukes?— A. They were slaves brought into | Egypt from the Caucasus and formed {into a standing army. In 1254 the army raised one cf its members to the supreme power. Mamelukes ruled over Egypt until 1517, when they were over- | thrown by Selim I, Sultan of Turkey. The country was ruled by 25 Mameluke | beys under a Turkish viceroy. In 1811 the Pasha of Egypt, by a wholesale | massacre, annihilated the Mamelukes. . Is the Mexican Chihuahua part | dog and part squirrel>—W. L. A. The Chihuahua is all dog—a | diminutive, spindly. prominent-eyed dog. Like more large-headed dogs, it is an affectionate and benign little creature. Q. What other name is given for ngrowing tce nails?>—H. A. T. A. The medical term is paronychosis. Q. What_makes foods spoll in can- | ning?—F. B. A i There are two causes of food spoilage in canning: First, there are present in all fresh fruits and vege- tables substances called enzymes. enzymes bring about the normal ripen- ing of fruits and vegetables and, unless checked, the final decay of the product. Since heating is an essential step in canning and these enzymes are easily destroyed by heat, it is only necessary to avoid the changes they may bring |about in the food between the time it |is gathered and the time i is cooked. The second and more impcrtant cause of food spoilage is the action of minute plants which are present in the air, soil, water, and, in fact, on everything. There are three groups of these plan —bacteria, yeasts and molds. Com- |mercial canning is scientifically done and these dangers eliminated. Q. How large has a rose bush been known to grow?—W. C. 4 A. The American Rose Annual says that at Whittier, Calif, is the known rose bush in the world. It is & Lamarque and is five feet around the trunk at one and one-half ieet above | the ground. Its branches cover a large house and it is estimated that there hu:;lle been 180,000 blossoms on it at one e. Q. Where were Scylla and Charybdis supposed to have been?—J. B, A. In later classical times, Scylla and Charybdis were localized in the Straits of Messina; the former on the Italian | and the latter on the Sicilian side. The |currents in this strait do as a fact present considerable difficulties to nave area of Belgium in the following vil- |igators, especially in a strong wind. ‘There is much public interest in the proposals from several oil-producing States for restriction of output of this natural resource, which might in the future be in danger of being exhausted. Pro-rating among the States involved, in co-operation with the Federal Gov- ernment, is thought by some observ.rs to be in the interest of the industry, as well as of the public, “If the plan works—if the States do not quarrel among themselves over their production allotments,” says the Milwaukee Sentinel, “it will not only save a tremendous amount of cil but will indicate a means for controlling other natural resources. Moreoter, its successful operation should gladd>n the hearts of all champicns of States’ rights, for it would .demonstrate that the States are able to perform major economic operations without the inter- ference of federal specialists and with- out a further burden of Federal legis- lation znd regulation.” “We shall soon sce,” advises the St. Louis Times, “whether the oil industrs well organized, and with its vesource: in the United States relatively localized in about ten States, will suc- ceed any better than the agricultural industry in curtailing production. The ofl producers are in a more favorable situation than the farmers in that the idea of allocating output among the producing States originated with them and is promoted by them. On the iother hand, against this we must count the human inclination to do whatever seems for the time being to be profit- (A States concerned will pass laws, but, if legislation is followed, all will have to proceed in concert. And if foreign con- cerns undertake to ship petroleum into the United States, it may be necessary, as the Standard Oil Co. hints, to fail back on tariff schedules. However, the petroleum _interests have, it must be conceded, made material progress. They realize that there cannot be stability without equalization of production and consumption. They have adopted recommendations providing for self- control of production. They may be supposed to be at least on the way to Success with conservation and stabiliza- tion.” | | *xox w “The plan is unique,” thinks the Oak- Jand Triburie. “As a whole, it contem- plates, first, that each State—Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Cali- fornia and some six others—shall officially ‘prorate’ productions by the fields and companies within the State. 'I;:\e prorating in practice is done by the agency of the State government. The second step is that all the States thus prorating within their own borders shall [% is _possible that the | oil-producing | Railroad Commission or ‘otlter - Oil Conservation Proposals Believed Feasible by Nation [ | 2s has been going on unrestrained, and the actual conservation of the oil in the ground that the rights of future generations may be protected and the national safety provided for. The plan visualizes the preservation of the small independent producer. The big corpo rations regard him as a stabilizing factor. They have no desire to elimi- nate or injure him. The Government will certainly not permit him to suffer. The anti-trust laws will be fully en< |forced. Mr. Mitchell has made it clear ‘\zhn his department intends to adminis- ter those laws and that all violators will | be_prosecuted. * * '+ “Senator Borah | objected to any agreement which will | not safeguard the rights of the masses |of the people and the ultimate con- sumer. Any plan which results in higher prices unwarranted by actual conditions | he will attack. But the President and | the Oil Advisory Committee have made |it clear that the Legislatures and Con- gress have the last word and only what | they approve will be undertaken. This has always been the plan from the beginning.” | 3l | The effect of the anti-trust laws is | discussed by the Providence Journal, | with the statement: “When the Attor- |ney General expresses indifference as {to” the amendment of the anti-trust {laws he reveals an attitude that con- flicts sharply not only with the ideas of leaders in industry and commerce | and with the beliefs of eminent economists, but also with that of President Hoover in his last annual message. Nor is Mr. Mitchell's obser- vation that the anti-trust laws were |intended to protect small business en- |terprises and the consuming public | wholly valid. They were designed to prevent the strangling of competition |and the maintenance of discriminatory |and unfair business practices whether | the business unit happens to be of |iarge or small dimensions. Certainly |it should not be the purpose of anti- ‘tru.st legislation to hamper the economic | development of the country by re- |straining any business, however large, | that respects the spirit of the laws | against unfair competition and danger- { ous monopoly. It is the belief that our anti-trust statutes do place unneces sary restraints upon business ent prises that are observing the funda- mental spirit such legislation that has impelled various groups of citizens to request a fresh study of the entire question. Doubtless President Hoover's recommendation to Congress was in re- sponse to this sentiment.” Conditions in Texas are emphasized by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which records’as to recent develop- |ments that “the East Texas Chamber of Commerce adopted a thoroughgof | indorsement of proration.” and co: enter into a compact, which "compact o o Tust be authorized by the Legislature of | i senaroe e ‘s oloe ooy each State. The compact would constitute | gplike forests and fields, its crops can- an agreement to seb up a super-State not be renewed. and unlike coal and board, which board shall have aUthority | xher rainerals of the Sort. it fo i, On 2,000-Pound Unit! to ‘prorate’ production as amongst States. The final step is that the com- pact must be ratified by Congress. The plan 'is feasible as_ respects the legal aspects of it. It has the benevolent | approval of the administration, acting | through Secretary of the Interior Wil- bur, who gives earnest co-operation and | assistance so far as the Federal Gov- ernment may legally do so.” “Grave questions of public policy.” in- the opinion of the St. Louis Post- Dispatch, ‘are involved in this oil problem. The problem itself is, mani- festly, international scope and seemingly calls for international admin- istration in some degree. As such, perhaps, it is an integral factor in this entire economic crisis. Here again we face a necessity for the scientific treat- ment of which public opinion is now here sufficiently advanced. Perhaps the most jwe can do now is permit the oil pro- ducers to undertake their fi‘vrnm of curtailed production - and ition and observe the results. But if a raid on the consumer in the way of inflated prices should appear among the results regulation by the Government must, it seems to us, inevitably follow.” “Somehow the oil industry must be stabilized,” declares the Lexington Leader. “This means, too, curbing the evils of wildcat drilling, of waste such ‘The oil that is in the ground of East | Texas is all that East Texas has; when that is gone there will be no more to |sell. It is, therefore, important to East Texas that this irreplaceable resource | be sold at the best price possible. That | best price cannot be obtained by flood- |ing an oversupplied market, but by ex- tending production over years when the | market is likely to be stronger. Few people will agree on what is an ade- quate price for oil, but most will con- |sider that such a price must be well |above a dolla a barrel. Oil in East | Texas is being sold as low as 15 cents |a barrel, and the average is no more ithan 25 cents. Every such sale repre- sents a loss not only to the owners of Support. s ‘oftered by e e Dallas Journal, with the explanation of the situation in that State: “The experi- ment, if such it can be termed, should yield better results than the experiment |in unregulated production, the undest: |able effects of which were noted in the resolution favoring equitable proration | which the East Texas Chamber of Com- . more ‘prod tion is the soundest plan yet conceived ‘m prevent waste and a slump in prices to demoralizing levels.”