Evening Star Newspaper, May 4, 1931, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR ‘With Sunday Morning Editien. WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY . May 1031 THEODORE W. NOYES. The Evening Star Newspaper Company Busioess Ofice: 11ty 8t and Penneylvania Av | gules ‘3&7 fke Michican Buria o e Mic AR Regent . Londol, Bogland. Rate by Carrier Within the City. 45¢ per month 40c per month 06c per month ;e per copy ot | fi“’l.lfl’ be seat in bs mail ne Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Muryland aud Virginia. L 1yr. 810 lma.mi 1717 56.00: 1w 80c | 1FLL 3400 1 mo. 40¢ | All Other States and Canada. | ly and Sunday...1yr.$12.00° 1 mo.. §1.00 ly only . Sl Tegen: 1 me. ke | mday only I11lII11yrl 35.000 1 mo. 50c each or Leley Member of the Associated Press. vely extitled | publishe: apecial dispaiches heremn Today representalives of every trad- ing nation in the world are assembiing ! ip Washinglon for the Sixth Biennisl Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce. ‘They will admire the landscape and aichiteclural beauties of | the American Capital. They will nol fall to marvel st the immensity of the new Department of Commerce—symbol in stone of the mounting magnitude | of American business at home and abroad. Oould our distingulshed visilors from overseas but visuglize it, there exists in the District of Columbia sn excrescence | which would challenge their astonish- | ment as completely as Washinglon's charms will excite their admiration. EBuropeans, Asiatics and Latin Ameri- cans, here to ponder the problems of & | disordered economic world, will learn with baming surprise (hat the United States is the only county on earih ‘where residents in its Capital are wholly distranchised, Thelr mystification will be none the less when they hear that in all the republics with constitutions pat- terned after that of the Uniled States, such as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, the people of the federal districts. which are under national control, are unfallingly represented in their re-| spective national governments. Coming appropriaiely from its “De- partment of Efficiency in Government,” & booklet entitled “The Case for Fed- eral Suffrage in the District of Colum- bia” has just been published by the National League of Women Voters. Po- Itically shackled Washingtonlans wel- come with deep gratitude this convine- ing elucidation of their plight by an organization which spesks for millions of enfranchised women. Supporl from such & quarter fur the pending consti- tutional amendment, designed o right the District’s suffiage wrongs, is of in- estimable value. ‘Women account for, roundly, one-half of the Nation's electorate. Tv have such | & volce raised in behalf of Washington's political aspirations is a portent of sig- | nifieance and hope. Miss Katherine A. Frederic's terse treatise deserves to find | its way into the hands of millions of | American citizens more fortunate than their dispossessed brothers and sisters in the District of Columbia—and into the hands, as well, of those Washing- tonians who are Jukewarm in advocacy of thelr city's just claims. ‘Today marks an imporiant ltnluuv: ment in thbe campaign LW secure Na- | tlonal Representalion for the Pedersl | area. The Citizens' Alliance of Wash- | ington, which is pledged o its support, is launching & systemalic coirespond- ence with members of Congress for the purpose of polling their views on Lhe sub- Ject. The Allfance reminds our national legislators that the question “is strictly non-partisan and does not involve & contentious issue.” What it does involve 18 & clean-cut issue as to whether more than half a million liberty-loving, law. abiding, tax-paying American citizens can in elementary justice be denled the right to representation in the Gov- ernment whose laws they must obey and whose taxes they must pay. o ———— Cae Gen. Butler's successive international complications suggest that he might as | ‘well be detalled definitely for duty ai| the State Department. e The Tariff. Advocates of Wie proteclive tarill sys- tem have been aghast in recent days| because of the atlacks upon the Smoot- Hawley tariff act by eminent Republi- cans. The crowning blow came, how- ever, when Julius H. Barnes, chalrman of the bosrd of the United Siates Chamber of Commerce, in an address o | the chamber, urged a downward re- vision of the teriff law. If the stal- warts of the Republican party are to fall out over the tariff, which has been & cardinal issue of the G. O. P. for many years, what, indeed, may be ex- pected in 1932? Senator James E. Waison of Indiana Republican leader of the Senate, has | iseued » rallying cail to the faithiul.| He has snswered Mr. Barnes with argu- ments which 1o thuse Who believe in the | protective tarift system will sppear un- answerable, and which will be dim- cult %o answer in sny event. In the| opinion of Senator Watson there is 100 much loose talk about the tariff; there 1s, for example, an inclination to lay to the tariff economic ills found in this | country today beeause of world-wide de- Dression. Why not be specific, Mr. Barnes, Senator Walson sald, and tell us just what tariff duties you would | lower? Would you lower the duties on textlles, industries which have begun to show an upward trend after & long period of depression? Senator Watson asks with consider- able pertinence if the more we buy abroad, the more our workers will be employed in this country. It is & difm- cult question for the opponents of thy tariff system to answer. Some of them may undertake to point out thst, with forelgn nations selling more and more goods in this country, American pro- ducers will be able to find more and more markets for their produce abroad, since the Eurcpeans would then be able to buy more. At best this would merely substitute foreign markets for Ametican goods in place of the domestic market. And, in the period of change, what more 2 likely to happen than a shutting éown of y American factories? fact that the Democrats i Editor | | lstic affair. | military establishments as by American have gone further and further along the road toward the protective tariff be & great talking point in the national campalgn next year. Democrats will rall at the Smoot-Hawley bill. Repub- licans like Senator Watson will come to the defense of the messure. The farmers will be told on the one hand that they mre compelled to buy in & protected market and to sell in an cpen one. ‘On the other hand, it will be pointed out to the farmers thal many of their products have been given real protection under the rates of the S8moot- Hawley bill, including wheat, which has been sold twenty cents & bushel higher in this country than in the world market. It has been cbvious for s long time bat certain American business inter- ests, particularly in New York, bave been more and more involved in for- eign investments, Some of these inter- ests, 100, have been ardent advocales of the importing business. As a general proposition, these interests have At heart dollars more than the cause of the American worker. It would be idle for any one to mssert that the protective tarif is an altru- Those who support it; bave selfish interests. But if the, workers in this country benefil, as they surely have in the past and are doing in the present, from this system of tar- iffs, it is to the interest of the counury ] (o maintain the system, even though it wlso benefils the so-called “Interests,” 1ather than to discard it. 1t may be predicted with considerable freedom that 1f the Democratic perty were placed in power by the voters there would be great hesitancy on the part of the Democratic Jeaders when it comes (o breaking down the protective tarift structure. The newly reorganized United States Tariff Commission is hard at work ex- amining teriff rates of which complaints bhave been made. Why not give the com- | mission & chance to prove its efficiency | before undertaking to kick the bullding down? .——— -~ Disarmament and Depression. President Hoover welcomed the Inter- national Chamber of Commerce in Washinglon todsy with an snalysis of world depression which has nol hith- erto commanded the atlention of diag- nosticians probing for the ceuses of | economic distress. He ascribes it to “the malign inberitances from WI Great War.” Depression masy bave sprung 1o some degree from “immediate economic causes,” but Mr. Heover allies himself boidly with the theory that eco- nomic life has been disturbed primarily because “international confidence,” on | which it must rest, has been under- mined by fear. Dominated by their tears, the President declares, Dations have had recourse to armaments on & scale in prodigious excess of pre- delenses. From (his geperal premise, Mr. Hoo- ver iuviles the business men of the THE EVENING 1t was handed out by his secretary for use in the newspapers. Those who " | system, the old tariff issue promises to | knew it was coming and did not know the man expected something remark- able. Those who knew Mr. Baker ex- pected little. The latter were right. This epoch-marking interview read: “There are some indications of im- provement on sound lines. ‘The Baker bank was, and is today, like the Baker character, inconspicuous, conservative, “old-fashioned,” to some minds. Though relatively the richest bank in America—not in point of capi- tal, but in point of earnings and value to its stockholders—it has been one of the least consplcuous. It occupies & second floor of A Wall sireet bullding, | served by siow, old-type elevators. The banking room is devoid of sny orna- mentation, piain, simple, almost dingy in equipment. It has only two vice presidents, whereas almost every other bank in the neighborhood has from ten to fifty. Its president sits in full view of tbe public—not the chalrman of the board, which was Mr. Baker's position—and he s accessible to all | who wish to reach him on business. Such & conservative institution plays 2 most important part in the economic life of the nation. There are others, scaltered about the country, not so well known as the bank which was the re- sult of George F. Baker's lifetime en- deavor, but of great power for good in their communities. And there are Bakers at their head, men of wisdom and discretion, sound in thelr views and judgments, careful in their operations, rocks of refuge for their areas of finan- clal service when storms arise and rage and threaten the business world Joe Judge, Washinglon initial sacker, bas had a good many accldents, opera- toms and ilinesses in the past fifteen years. Each, instead of slowing him up, has seemed to make him of more vaiue to his club. Let it be hoped that his pres- ent affiction will have the same effect. He has the cordial sympathy of every fan here, and of most of them else- where on the circuit. —_— e A young former service man bas of- fered plans for buoys W be anchored slong seaways as relief stations for avistors forced down at sea. These would be large encugh lo contain food, clothing, medical supplies, flares, etc. How about & portable typewriler, 100, 50 that the fiyer, while awaiting rescue, could start right in on his syndicated articles? B ‘The publisher of a detective maga- zine claims the real Al Capone has been desd two yesrs and thai the present title holder is a fake. However, no one would wish to act as impostor for him any more than some ancient would have consented to double for Damocles. — it — The trouble with Boston seems to be Lbet she tries o be in & couple of base ball leagues when intended by nature (o remain in the ouldoor hockey league class. world, w0 whom Washington 18 proud 10 be host at thelr sixth blennial con- gress, Lo consider what they can do Lo rid mapkind of the srmanent incubus. ‘These captains of finance and industry from the four corners of the globe desl with, snd are impressed by, big figures. “The world expenditure on all srms” the President of the United States told them this morning, “is now nearly $5,000,000,000 yearly, an increase of about seventy per cent over that previous to the Great War. We stand today with near 5,000,~ 000 men actively under arms snd 20,- 000,000 more in reserves. Having thus vividly brought bome to Mother Barth’s business leaders the slory of fear and armamentis in terms of numbers and money, Mr. Hoover re- minds them, sublly but none the less | torcefully, that signalories to the Kellogg pact cut an inconsistent Bgure in lavishing their economic substence on srmaments. Without qualification, the President declares thai “of il pro- posals for economic rehabilitation of the worid, I know of none comparing in necessity or importance with the suc- cessful result of the 1932 Geneva dis- armament conferenc Whether the wcrld st large—Buro- peans, in particular—will view the | American Chief Executive’s proposal as | &n econcmic cure-all is extremely doubt- ful. Before this week in Washingion is over contrary-minded opinions are | scheduled to find frank expression. Eu- 10ps tbinks trade recovery would be | promoted nob s0 much by demobilizing | lariff disarmament and reduction of war Gebls Tather than reduetion of armies #nd navies. Herbert Hoover's omission of sli reference o Burope's well known plans for economic rehabilitation will 1oL be lost on her distinguished spokes- men now in the District of Columbia. - ———— Governor Roosevell unfavorably com- pares the “clogged and creaking cum- brous wheels” of the Pederal Govern- ment with the modernized and highly efficient machinery of the Empire State. Perhaps the larger bus does not run qQuite 80 fast, but it does not backfire nearly as often or make such a smell because of 1o much & mixture. - r——— - George F. Baker. “Bilence,” once remarked George Pisher Baker, banker, “is the secret of success.” Never was & mah more true o his own tradition than the financier who died on Saturday st the age of uinety-one. He was silence personified. Never did he ssy a superfiuous word. ‘That 15, in and about business. He was greatly successiul. Yet it was something more than silence that won for him his remarkable position in the world of finance. He was gifted with the bank- er’s understanding of values and eco- nomic relations and the measureless variations of human character. When storms raged in Wall .street and men were frantically trying to sal- vge values, George F. Baker was slways calm. He was the unyielding rock upon which the seas of adversity dashed vainly. His courage, his confidence, his tesourcefulness steadied others, And from his bank, always super-charged with surplus and Immediately liquid | funds, flowed rescue Tevenues to tide stricken institutions over the crisis. Yet to the general public his name was almost unknown. Other names were familiar, were quick upon the tongue of gossip and report, but the name of Beker was mainly apoken by the initiates. Late in January last George F. Baker broke his rule regarding inte:views. After years of silence—respecting pub- lication—he gave out publie state- ment business conditions, | — Marry Ross, subnarine velersn, sec- ond mate of the Nautilus, announces he is sure the trip will be & success, as he packs for the polar voyage. All hope ne will not forget his ice-pick. e ra— = “Paris Housewife Past Disappearing” 1an & recent headline. Probsbly has gone after that well known Parisian busband. o e The British have christened their new trafic police “moppers,” a combination of tbe words motor and copper. Piain “stopper” might do, also. N ‘Those who, while some miles away, witnessed snd heard by televisicn a New York marriage, can send the bride s kiss by wire or mall. - r—oe—s SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Supposing. Only jes' supposin’ In a lezy, hazy way, When the twilight clouds are closin’ Like a curtain on the day! Jes' a little daytime dreamin’ “Tili the clouds come peepin through! Every one that starts a-gleamin’ Is & wish that's eomin’ true. The world must keep a-grindin’ An’ you've got to do your share; All the talk of “never mindin'"” Will not ease your weight of care. But when Duty’s kind o' dozin’ An' the day is nearly done— Well, only jes’ supposin’ 1s & heap o' harmless fun. The Difficulty. “I put my faith in the wisdom of the piain people,” said the complacent or- ator. “That's easy,” replied Senator Bor- ghum. “The real job is to get them to veciprocate.” . A man who never changes his mind may have the courage of his convictions, but as & rule he doesn't care to undergo the mental exertion of forming new opinions. Desire for the Picturesque, “The seeker for fortune or giory, Like the fisherman casting his flies, ‘Thinks more of the picturesque story He can tell than he does of the prize. Sclentifle Methods. “Are you going to make a farmer of your boy?” “No,” replied Farmer Corntossel. “But just as soon as he gets home from school he's going to teach me agriculture.” Extremes. “You worship your ancestors, do you | mot.2” “Yes” replied Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown. “I note with interest that | you follow precisely the opposite idea. You evolve the doctrine of heredity and | blame your ancestors for all your mis- | fortunes.” Point of View. One man in fortune is not strong; “Fhe other may midst pleasure dwell. | One man declares the world’s all wrong; ' The other thinks it does quite well. “It'’s true” said Uncle Eben, “dat every man mus' have some faults, but| dat ain' no excuse foh deliberately choosin’ some dat happens to strike yoh fanc D Where Did It Go? From the Duluth Herald 1t iz best mot to gct excited when nis ask what the werld is coming 10 They don't expeet you to do tm'lhml oot ity STAR., WASHINGT! ON, D. C., MONDAY, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. ‘There are, in the main, two classes of writers, those who can write and those who cannot. It might seem strange, at first blush, that bunglers could get any standing at all in an art. They do it by main strength. Force is always power, and those who cannot be artistic in the use of words must specialize in mass attack. Hence there results a great body of writing in which words are used as so many bricks, without distinction of brick from brick. Such literary bulldi are the same at the top as at the bottom. in the way they end. hey build up to nothing. Their constructors—=a good word—have no end in view except bulk, and no way of getting there except by sheer persist- ence. i o ox x It is such writers in all times and such artists with words Tt Stevenson. ibut in his prime he was & mighty man of letters. His collected works still stand as one of the greatest demonstrations of mind over- matte He was a “literary artist” who knew the values of words, of seniences, of Lartist. There is about him & slightly arti- ficial air, but one which is made ac- ceptable to most le of taste because of that very artificiality which he strove L2 secure. %o He tried! He did ‘his best to create an artistic whole. He knew what he wanted to do, achieve it. He did not pile words on end merely, nor use literary bricks all of the same substance and color, but deliberately chose heavy ones for the base, deftly tapered them for the summit, filling the space between with a mosaic of choice materials. He was not content to shovel his words onto paper, nor heap them on, went. He bad » sense of values. He knew when word went with the word which it followed, and when it did not. No press business compelled him 10 et & bud choice of words go or W be conlent with & paragraph of page which did not suit him. On the other hand, he did not prac- tice revision to the extent which has been credited o him in the popular imagination. His wife is suthority for this state- menl, but bis stories, and particularly his essays, are far greater proof. Every line of them is filled with an authentic inner proof which is written large in as fine a choice of words as any author ever displayed. ‘The r papers is convinced beyond all need of testimony by another that the man un- derstood that basic requirement of good 'rl!luu--—lhnl. & writer wish to write well. * 2% % Have there not been enough kitchen mechanics throwing words at the world, shoveling them, pouring them, heaping them, massing them in great bossy masses? “The only unforgivable offense in a WASHIN BY FREDERIC ‘They'll be too polite to say so, but the foreign delegates to the Interna- tional Chamber of Commerce are pretty sure to be hot under the collar about President Hoover's choice of a welcom- ing theme today—disarmament. He'd have made & much bigger hit with the tariff, war debts, reparations, gold. the program. Probably the Germans, who comprise the second largest dele- gation, are the only ones pleased with the President’s action in loud-pedaling the 1932 Geneva Disarmament Confer- ence. The emotions of the British, who want to keep their navy, and of the Prench snd Italians, who want both their navies and their armies, are far less enthusiastic. There was method in Mr. Hoover's madness in selecting disarmament as his topic. He addressed himself to men who are the powers behind their thrones. Their interest in disarmament aroused, the President figures that he is striking for that cause & blow much more effective than any which could be addressed to mere statesmen, * k% % ‘There is another reason. Mr. Hoover knew, of course, that the ticklish issues of reparations and debts—to say nothing of the world’s dislike of the new American tariff law—are due for frank discussion in Washington this week. His deliberate side-stepping of those questions is notice to all con- cerned that they are not debatable, from the United States’ standpoint. Outstanding delcgates like Pirelll of Italy, Balfour of Great Britain, Par- mentier of France, mi of Japan, Theunis of Belgium a Heineken of Germany. business-statesmen all, will not mistake the significance of the President’s tactics. Incidentally, Presi- dent Hoover trots out a brand-new reason for world “malign inheritance” of the Great War, which finds expression in nearly $5,000,000,000 of annual expenditure on armaments 13 years after the armistice. Evidently the " President’s pal, Julius Barnes, hadn't thought of that when he said in Atlantic City last week that politics 18 what played havoc with business. * kK Election of Silas H. Strawn to the presidency of the United States Cham- ber of Commerce reunites in key posi- tions at Washington not only two old- time Chicagoans, but & pair of old law partners, the other being Judge John Barton Payne, chairman of the Ameri- can Red Cross. The firm of Winston, Payne, Strawn & Shaw dates back to the gay nineties. Strawn comes close to being the first citizen of Chicago. His interests ramify into every fleld of clvic and commeicial tivity. Once upon & time he was president of the United States Golf Association, also of the American Bar Association. Presi- dent Coolidge sent Strawn to Peking as Uncle S8am’s representative on the com- missions appointed to wrestle with | Chinese tarffl and extraterritoriality. The Chicagoan, like Frank B. Kellogg, achleved fame and fortune at the bar without ever having gone to law school. He 15 official host to the International Chamber at Washington. * % % ¥ | No more interesting veasel plies the acid Potomac than U. 8. 8. Oceal rapher, nee Corsair, the sclentifically equipped flagship of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. She was com- mandeered by Vice Admiral Dr. Julius Klein the other day for a cruise past | Mount Vernon by way of entertainment for International Chamber of Commerce visitors. The Coast and Geodetic Sur- vey is one of the Department of Com- merce’s far-flung activitles. About a year ago J. Pierpont Morgan “sold” his late father’s famous yacht, Corsair, to the Government for $1. The stream- lined proportions of the 1,600-ton, 341- foot long craft, stlll coated in the original black, ' characteristic of its original piratical name, is admirably adapted to the service which occuples itself in exploring the vasty deep. Dur- ing the first few months of her ofMcial career, Oceanographer discovered = “hole” In the Atlantic Ocean, 4 miles deep. The cavity is now clearly charted for the safety of men who go down to the sea in ships. The old f;{:fllr was an armed convoy ship in *xx Here's the inaide of 1 refuaal af Le They stop the way they begin and | places who have slung the ugly sbeer at | put pen Robert Louls | picture w R. L. 5. is somewhat out of date now, | paragraphs, of the relation of ideas, of | the various materials available to the | or thought he did, and he worked wl #5 one might & ton of coal on & pave- | siiver, Russia or other world topics on | depression—the | man who takes to the pen or typewriter is » failure to wish to write well. No matter how clumsily he writes |or how pointless, if nevertheless his | work is imbued with a plain desire to write well, somehow there will be some- thing about it, an inner spirit, if the | reader will, which Jjustifies his work to men. It is only when a writer plainly shows the reader that he has no conception | whatever of s proper appreciation of | the cardinal virtue of writing well for the sake of writing well that the latter | 1 inclined, if he knows something of 4:;"[4 literature, to turn a deaf ear to im. | Whatever & writer's faults may be— | and the best of them have many—s | reader will respect him if he shows that | he has his mind bent on turning out the | best work that he is capable of creating. * ok % Stevenson, the beloved R. L. 8. of fact | and fable, could not touch an idea or to paper without creating a orth looking His book about the South Seas is worth more to many a reader than all | the list of subsequent writings about the | delectable isles. | His vivid feat of imagli , | ure Island,” which he wanted to call “The Sea Cook,” remains one of the world's best beloved adventure storles. | His essays. even including the openly stylistic “Virginibus Puerisque.” carry a l!eltkr along from the first line to the nst. ‘There is something about them which rings true not only in and because of ihemselves, but even more because they are the evident essays of & man who alued the art of writing and who set out 1o be the best artist he could in his chosen medium. EEEIE It is right here that the theory of hard works falls down. pyramids, for automobiles, for fence Pposts, for & thousand and one construc- tions, but it will not sufMfice, at least in entirety, for writing. ‘There have been scores of writers who have put their names to many and thick volumes who yet have gone down to oblivion before the onslaught of time. 1f Zola's 30 novels yet remain to the world. it is mainly because there was something behind, in and of the writing, besides glgantic energy shown. | ‘The great Frenchman, too, had an | iden ‘of what he wanted to do with | words, and he wrested them to his | bidding, sometimes gently, sometimes | harshly, but miways with effect. ‘The edifice of & typlcal Zola novel is | not of poured concrete, every particle | ike every other icle; 1t 1€ 1t were made carefully with & proper foundation, its walls built up of brick, | its pinnacle topped. even as the Wash- | inglon Monument has its peak of glis- tening aluminum, with & point of pur- pose. ‘The writings of Robert Louis Ste- him, in & way, he had to have the de- sire to do his best in order to achieve the splendid things he did. Before all, he wished to write well He had a true sense of perspective in the writing sense, he knew the finer felicities of sentence structures, of word blocks, of structural ideas. Compared with his strong. delicate work, much of the writing of today is mere word ! butchery. GTON OBSERVATIONS WILLIAM WILE. Colorado blizzard hero, Bryan Untledt, to give an interview about his visit at the White House. The lad heard that the correspondents wanted a story from him. He spoke to the President about | it. The boy said he'd promised his | father not to talk about his Washing- ton experiences until he was back home. Mr. Hoover told Bryan that if he'd made & promise to his father there was only one thing to do—keep it. * ¥ % K 8ir Ronald Lindsay, King George's statuesgue Ambassador at Washington, has presented the District of Columbia Historical Soclety with the iron coat of arms—the.llon and the unicorn—which for 63 years adorned the British em- bassy on Connecticut avenue. Title to the property has just passed, after con- siderable complications, to the new owners, who plan to put up an office | bullding for doctors. bassador Lind- say, who served at the embassy 25 years ago, took & Jast, pensive look at the historic premises before formally trans- ferring possession the other day. Representative James M. Beck, Re- publican, of Pennsylvania recently ad- dressed the rock-ribbed G. O. P. Union trends in Washington. One of the | trends was Senator Caraway of Arkan- | sas. Smedley Butler had just been cut |off the radio in Philadelphia for using | the word “hell.” Beck said he couldn't | discuss Caraway adeguately without | getting into trouble with the air censor. * x % Dedication of the 86-story Empire State Bullding gives timeliness lop Ll ,wh:crlck,""thlch may be of Michel- |sonian origin. “Whas a strange thi the whirligig of politics is!” It.'l"\‘llu. "fi the White House a stationary engineer, end the Happy Warrior building sky- scrapers in Pifth avenue.” *oxox ox Col. Prederick Huff Payne, the As- sistant Secretary of War, and Mrs. Payne are happy survivors of a re- | markable trip by Army plane. From | the time they left Washington in a Ford all-metal tri-motor transport until they set foot on the soil of Panama, they completed a 4,000-mile | air journey at an average speed of 1120 miles an hou ‘The itinerary in- | cluded Fort Bragg, N. C.; Montgomery, Ala.; 8an Antonlo, Tex.. Tampico and | Vera' Cruz, Mexico; Guatemala, San Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and | Panama. After having envisaged devas- tated Managua from the sky, they landed in the stricken city. Col. and Mrs. Payne returned by boat from Jamaica to Philadelphia, then flew back .r, Wuhlw. Twolomur pliots and wo mechanics completed (Conrrient, Sy el party. |Coal Price Computing Suggestion Is Made To the Editor of The Star: Inasmuch as Mr. Wm. T. W. Graves is anxious to get the record straight with Teference to the method for calculating the ?rlce of a District of Columbia legal ton of coal, when given the price of a “2,000-pound unit,” | I venture to suggest & correction of his | alleged correction, which appeared in yesterday's Star. Mr. Graves says: “You must multiply the price of 2,000 pounds by 1.12 per cent to get the price of 2,240 pounds.” This is obviously incorrect. What he meant to say in both letters is that you must multiply the “unit” price by 112 per cent. In the example he gives, multiplying by 1.12 per cent will pro- duce & result of slightly more than 14 cents. Multiplylng by 112 per cent | produces $14.06, the amount Mr. Graves | arrives at by multiplying by 1.12 (112 per cent), but not by 1.12 per cent. | J. R. MAGILL. ) Spain Still Has Problems. | From the Loulsville Courfer-Journal. Now that Spain has successfully | sassed through its revolution its remains | for its evoluticn to be as successful. - [ — Boil "Em in Oil! Prom the Fort Worth Star Another way of - unto gossipers as vou would if you werc e and thly | 4 Labor may be for brick walls and | | League of Philadelphia cn present-hour didp's know yau helr MAY 4, -1931. The Political Mill By G. Gould Lincoln. ‘The Nye Senatorial Campaign In- vestigation Committee gets down serlous work today on legislation to strengthen the Federal corrupt prac- tices act. It begins a series of* hear- ings, with students of and authori- ties on corrupt practices in elections appearing as witnesses. . If the ef- forts of the Nye Committee are to bear any permanent fruit, other perhaps than the delay of election of women to the Senate, that fruit will come in the form of new legislation to prevent prac- tices in senatorial elections which have caused & lot of candidates a lot of tro ble in the last six years. According reports, most of the dirty work in sena- torial contests is done in the primary campaigns and elections. The present Federal corrupt practices act does not cover primary elections, on the theory that the Newberry decision of the Su- preme Court definitely settled it that the Congress has no authority to control or to legislate in,connection with pri- mary elections in the States. However, there are those who insist that the New- berry decision had no such effect, and that if the matter were brought square- Iy before the highest tribungl it would be held that a law of Congress regulat- ing primary expenditures, etc., in the States where Senators and Representa- tives are concerned would be held con- stitutional. * X o % It is entirely too early to say whether the Nye Committee can bring forth any- thing new in the line of corrupt prac- tices legislation which can receive the approval of Congress itself and the Chief Executive. If it really does suc- ceed in writing & bill to strengthen the corrupt practices act and it is enacted into law, such & law may have far- reaching effect in the campaign of 1932, Undoubtedly, however, the Sen- ate will set up another Investigating Committee to look over the elections of next year. An election without a Sen- ate investigation would be like “Hamlet” with Hamlet left out. Whether it has been the fault of the candidates or merely the inclination of the Senate committees, most of the attention of the Senate committees headed by former Senator James A. Reed of Missouri and now by Senator Nye of North Dakota, has been given to senatorial elections in Illinois and Pennsylvania. Perhaps they spend more money to nominate senatorial candidates in those two States than elsewhere. of nominating senatorial candidates in & primary, the parties nominate them in conventions. This may account for the { tact that there has not been an inquiry into & senatorial election in the Empire State in these recent ye And per- haps if the candidates w nominated by conventions in Pennsylvania and Iilinois, there would not be such huge expenditures of money as have shocked the Senate. But that is plain heresy in days when the primary is sacrosanct. * K kK An echo of the 1928 campaign comes before the Nye committee this week. Despite the protests of Bishop James Cannon, jr., the committee insists it is going ahead on Wednesday with its in- quiry into the handling of the $65,000 Jameson contribution to the anti-Smith Democrats for use in Virginia. This money was turned over to Bishop Can- non. ‘The committee is not satisfied | with the accounting that has been made {50 far. The conduct of the anti-Smith | campaign by Democrats, particularly Bishop Cannon, caused a world of bit- terness in Virginia and in other South- ern States. Bishop Cannon’s political enemies have persisted in their efforts to cause his humiliation. This goes for the wet Democrats and other wets in the North who have no love for Bishop Cannon because of his adherence to prohibition, as well as for the dry Dem- ocrats in the South who stood by Al Smith in the 1928 campaign and saw Bishop Cannon and his followers make it possible for President Hoover to carry four of the States of the “solid South.” Bishop Cannon has written to the Sen- ate committee chairman that it will be impossible for him to be present Wed- nesday because of church work. But this has not halted the committee. The bishop bested the Senate lobby commit- tee a year ago when he flatly declined to answer questions propounded to him on the ground that the lobby commit- tee had no authority to ask him about the handling of the campaign contribu- tions in 1928. The Nye committee, how- ever, apparently has full authority to make such an inquiry. It looks as though the Cannon inquiry is likely to arouse again a good deal of bitterness which grew up during the last presi- dential campalign. PR Maj. Gen. Smedley D. Butler, U. 8. Marine Corps, who has admitted he might like to run for the United States Senate in his home State, Pennsylvania, next year, is on his way to Oregon, where he has on leave of absence to help establish the State constabulary. Gen. Butler, if he runs for the Senal will seek the seat now held by Senato: Davis, former Secretary of Labor. Sen- | ator Davis is still to appear again be- fore the Senate LobBy Committee in connection with the charges that the Celotex Co. handed over to & ber of the Senaie” $100,000 or so while the Smoot-Hawley tariff law was in the making. Davis has testified that he never received anything from any- body in connection with tariff making. There are Pennsylvanians who say that Butler could win the nomination if he went into the race. By the way, why shouldn't Gen. Butler become a vice presidential possibility, now that so many other prominent men are in the plcture, simply because Vice President Curtis has not made up his mind whether he wants to run for re-election or to seek his old seat in the Senate? In 1924 another picturesque figure, Gen. Charles G. Dawes, was drafted to_run with Calvin Coolidge. Hoover and But- Jer also would make an all-Quaker ticket, for Gen. Butler is one of the “figh " Quakers. Doubtless the ticket would please the drys in the Republican rty. —_—— PR It's 50 years since Kansas went dry. In that half century there has been no slackening, it is sald by Kansans, in the State’s devotion to the dry cause. Kansas has had its bootleggers and its akeasies. There is reason to belleve that it still has such gentry and so- called oases in the desert. But while the rest of the country, or & good part, has become more and more excited over the eighteenth amendment, Kansas has remained comparatively calm. If the Democrats expect to carry Kansas next year, it will have to be on some other issue than anti-prohibition.- The con- stitutional amendment which made Kansas dry was adopted by the State in 1880 and became effective & year later, on May 1. The first public office held by Vice President Curtis was that of prosecuting attorney in his district in Kansas. When he took office there plenty of speakeasies ‘were operating in his home town. But not for long. He ran them out of business in short or- der. Kansas devotion to prohibition is & throwback to the early days of the State. In those days the State was wide open. It was the frontier. When the reform movement came, it came hard. * kK K Up in Massachusetts the Republican Legislature and the Democratic gov- ernor are looking askance at one another over the redistricting of the State so 8s to reduce the number of congressional districts by one, to con- form to the new apportionment of representation in the House. The idea has been advanced there, as in some other States, that the Legislature can go ahead and redistrict without hav- ing the Governor pass on the matter at all. The Constitution of the United States gives the State Legislatures the power to determine what shall be the manner, etc., of electing members of Congress. In some quarters it is argued that this leaves the Governor out of the calculation. But the State constitution of Massachusetts provides that all laws must be avproved by the Governor. Furthermore, in the past, new laws for redistricling th- State have been submitted to Governors for There has been 10 | working constantly for the benefit of In New York, instead | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. ‘Thousand of Government experts u-l citizens of the United States. -m-fi will work directly for you if you wi zall for the fruits of their labors through our Washington bureau. State your in- quiry briefly, write clearly, and, inclos- ing 2-cent stamp for a personal letter in reply, address The Evening Star In- formation Bureau, Frederic J, Haskin, { director, Washington, D. C. Q. Three deep-sea sunfish were landed in front of the Flamingo Hotel at Miaml. One of them weighed 1,000 pounds. Is this a record?—J. H. A. The ocean sunfish is a lazy, clumsy species, with limited l'lmmlgz ability. It is easily approached ai harpooned. It often attains a weight of 1,500 pounds. Since it has no eco- nomic value, no particular effort is made to bring sunfish to shore. Q. How many toll bridges are there now in this country?—E. B. E. A. There are approximately 300. Q. How high a temperature is needed to kill insect life ., &, A. Practically any form of insect life is killed by a temperature of 125 de- grees Fahrenheit continued for three or four hours. Q. Will bllls which were not acted upon by Congress have to be introduced again?—J. 8. A. The last Congress ended on March 4, 1931. Any bills which had been pre- sented to Congress and had not been acted upon at that time “died.” It will be necessary for any such bills to be lre(nlroduced if they are to become aws. Q. How much dressed and live poul- try is sent into New York City in a year?—J. O. C. A. In 1930 51953913 pounds of live poultry and 200,884,576 pounds of dressed poultry was sent into New York. Q. How did the first Hull House A. It phrased its object thus: “To provide a center for & higher civic and social life; to institute and maintain ed;;uuon;l wnn:i pl:&-‘ntbmplu enter- prises, an nvestigate and improve tre conditions in the industrial districts of Chicago.” Q. May & scree; h be used in giving a child his sun %‘:’&14 N. A. Dr. White Eddy say: n the case of the screened porch the ultra- violet rays of the sun come through the meshes in the netting unhindered. the intensity. due to the screeni . doubt if it would be sufficient to n:uee materially the beneficial effects of the sunlight.” Q. What 1is considered the most im- gor_}-nt mark of an educated man?— 'A." He keeps an open mind on ev question until he has a1l the evidence ;{xd then considers this without preju- ice. Q. What is ti Americas?—A. P. S. A. The oldest city in the New World is Mexico City, which dates from about 1325 Al when the Asztecs, looking for a favorable site, saw perched on a cactus an eagle devouring a snake. The omen was interpreted to mean that this Wwas to be the site of their city. Q. What is the status of the Saar Basin? M. V. . Under the terms of the treaty between Germany and thepnilluo: the mines of the Saar Valley were given to Prance as compensation for the de- t charter describe its functions?—L. L. D. | struction of her morthern mines durini | the World War and as part payment o | her Ieparations. French oocupation was |to hold until reparations were com- | pleted. The districts containing the | mines were detached from Germany | and formed into the Saar Territory. An | International governing commission, re- sponsible to the League of Nations, was formed for 15 years, consisting of five | members—one French, one native (non- French), one British, one Czechoslov: | one Pinnish. 1In 1935 a plebiscite v | will be taken and final disposition mad | by decision of the League of Nations. | Q. wnat became of the Tayioe | collection which was exhibited at ‘gor;(orln Art Gallery for some time? | A. It was returned to the Tayl | executors in 1906. It is not still ; | existence as a collection. The Corcc ran Art Gallery has two pictii-s froi the collection—George Washingion, b | Stuart, and a picture by John Nagic | These pictures were the gift of M: Tayloe. Q. How many colored soldiers wer in the Unlon Army during the Ciii. War?—R. J. A It is estimated that 178.97 Negroes enlisted. This did not incluc an unascertained number of unde: | cooks or the colored officers. The Negr | forces consisted of 138 regiments of In- | fantry, 6 regiments of Cavalry and 1 | regiments of heavy artillery. Q. What is “high-low poker”?—N. B A. It is & form of draw poker. Th | Pot is equally divided between the high and low hand, the high hand gettin: the odd chip if there is one. The play- ers do not declare whether ae competing for high or low unf the | betting is over. Hands are not shown until all have declared. Q. What is the origin of the namc “gunny sack”?—M. McQ. A. Gunny is derived from the Hindi and Sanskrit word “gonl.” meaning a ‘yl.lck. ‘The term originally designatc:i | the strong, coarse sackcloth manufa: - tured chiefly in Bengal, India, from jut~ | It 1s used for clothing by the poor, but principally for bagging and wrapping. | Q How is the Jast name of the boy who visited the White House 0- nounced—the blizzard hero?—W. gr A. His name is Bryan Untledt, pro- nounced “Unteedt.” Q. In tapping trees for maple sirup how many places should be tapped?— While there would be some lessening of | G. N. A. Tapping only one place on s tree rolongs the life of the tree. Large rst-growth trees may be tapped in two and sometimes three places without in- Jury, but it is disastrous to tap in two places near together in order to collect the sap from the two in one bucket. Q. For whom is Bechamel named?—C. C. e A. It is named for Bechamel, maitre - d'hotel to Louis XIV. He is said to have created many new and tempting Q. What State has the most high ountain peaks?—P. T. A. Colorado has about four-fifths of the highest peaks in the United States. Q. What was the beginni of re- ligious freedom?—M. L. R. e e A. The first attempt to grant and try | out religious freedom may be credited 'fi:MA Dfiln#:‘: 1;\";:& Edict of Milan, the Christians and to all others free power of following whatever religion each may have preferred.” Progressive Ruler of Siam Arouses Interest of Nation The very human interest exhibited in the unofficial welcome to the King and Queen of Siam is interpreted by the press as showing a heaithy American curiosity in thie personality of an abso- lute monarch and his queen. The ef- fect of modern devel nts on the affairs of the Orient and the fact that the visiting King the services of American medical skill are both sub- Jjects of comment. “Royal princes, heirs presumptive and apparent, and even dowager queens, are no longer novelties here,” says the San Francisco €hronicle, “but the reigning monarchs who have preceded King Prajadhipok {o these es could be counted on one hand without checking off the thumb,” The Chronicle adds that “now we know Siam is a progres- sive country governed by an enlightened monarch; everybody is a friend of Siam; it is moved and seconded that publicity for Siam be referred to a committee of the whole.” “Americans, naturally,” declares the Charleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail, “will hope that the King of Siam is success- ful in his major quest, and that he will be cured of his ction,” and that pa- per adds: “Although he has the abso- lute power of life and death over his 11,000,000 or more subjects, his pictures do not give the impression that he is a man who would use this power ruth- lessly.” Finding enthusiasm smong the people of a democracy for a ruler who passed through the city in early morn- ing hours, the Milwaukee Sentinel re- marks: “When the American looks he is conscious no doubt of the privilege his American citizenship gives him. Perhaps this is what moves him to get up to odd hours in the morning and stand on a chilly railroad platform; he is prolidly exercising his democratic prerogative.” “For the first time,” it is pointed out by the South Bend Tribune, “the United States is host to a reigning Oriental monarch. For the first time United States. It is hoped that medi- cal treatment here will be successful.” * kK % Referring to the interest of the royal visitors in American fashions, the Charleston (8. C.) News and Courier remarks that “everything her majesty acquires will certainly be fit for a queen,” and assumes that Queen Ram- bai Barni “is not to be outdone by any of her sisters of the Occident.” As to his majesty, that paper concludes, “The habiliments of the Hon. Herbert Clark Hoover and the habiliments of His Majesty Prajadhipok look the same, unless she son of Chulalongkorn parades himself in gorgeous uniform.” “The royal representatives” thinks the Birmingham News, “doubtless will be shocked by our Western goings-on before they are through looking us over. Seeing this movie-going, motoring civili- zation clipping it off at breakneck speed, they’ll probably be ?lld enough to es- cape the bedlam of Manhattan's ele- vated and see the dawn come up like thunder from the Eastern seas. Mean- while, wonderingly, they will study us, smile the Asians wear while considering | the ways and fashions of Westerners. Recalling that the King “has re-| vealed to American reporters his inten- tion to grant his people the right to vote for municipal officials as a first step toward developing in Slam a system of | representative government,” the New York Evening Post states: “What his reaction will to the practical demon- stration in city government which New York offers him we do not know, but King Prajadhipok will have good reason to ponder over the advantages of this particular Western institution as com- pared to those of Slam’s present system of royal appointments. aim of gov- wiping out Representative Connery district. Connery is a Democrat. Also smiling the while with that inscrutable | ernment is to promote the happiness of the greatest number, the King told the American reporters, and, accordi: to Teports from Siam, this policy Prajadhipok follows very faithfully. We doubt if quite so much could be said for the government of New York. Why not have a test which would afford the Klfi an opportunity of going into this go ical question much further? Let im give us for & year the rule he gives his subjects in Bangkok; let the Siamese capital have a year's trial with Tam- many Hall in power. There is one pos- sible drawback for the King in this ar- rangement—we might not, be willing to let him return to his native land at the end of the year.” * e H ‘While emphasizing that “things will seem strange to the visitors,” the Oak- land Tribune suggests that they “will see the broad America which is still young and growing,” and that “if they lonfi enough and go to the ht Dlx:. they will find what it is that mi this a great country, and take back with the laughs and bewilderment much that is worth while.” The Chatta- nooga News describes Siam as “a well governed country with a strictly modern ruler,” while the Jersey City Journal offers the estimate as to King and coun- try: “Siam, to American eyes, may seem still to have a long way to go before her people enjoy those comforts of life which Americans consider so essential—such as freedom of self-government and the sical comforts of the machine age— it it is to be remembered that Siam has come forward fast toward the bet- ter things in Western civilization while clinging faithfully to cherished ideals of the East. The present King of Siam is & master of the art of bringing to- gether the East and the West. Edu- cated in England, ruler over millions of illiterate people, he has had the coursge and the vision to re-establish popular rights, to encourage compulsory educa- tion, and, in short, to do all those things which, since he was free not to do them if he so0 desired, stamp him as m nanimous and far-sighted.” ‘The first treaty which this country ever made in the Orient was made with Siam 98 years ago,” recalls the Apple- ton Post-Crescent. The Dayton ly News, also referring to history, remarks: “Siam 1s one of the few countries which won the World War. In 1917, about the time the entrance of America into the war made a foregone conclusion of the 1t, what should the Siamese do but declare war on Germany. This made Siam an elly of its old despoilers in Europe. The war ended, and Siam sent an emissary around asking as its reward that other countries make good their altruistic promises. They were ashamed not to do it, and now Siam, thanks to the war, has all its 12,000,000 people and all its 200,000 square miles back. So it is a fairly happy King, spite of his cataract, who has come to visit us. As good and true republicans, we are, of course, tickled to death to have mon- archy in our midst. How all the other ladies of the great houses are envying the royal guest! Take a good look at the King while you can. He is just about the only absolute monarch, bar- ring perhaps the President of the United States, that we have left.” Mexico Joins Nations With Budget Deficits From the Rochester Times-Union. ‘To the roll of countries reporting a deficit, Mexico is to be added. It is announced that it will end the current fiscal year with a shortage of $15,- 000,000. Entering 1930 with a surplus of some $15.000,000, it was thought that con- ditions warranted a program of ex- g.ndilure amounting to $150,000,000. ut Mexico seems to have been too optimistic. Business conditions have it has been suggested that the districts | represented by.Underhill, Dallinger and | Luce, all Republicans, be scrambled, | and two districts made of the three Mr. Underhill was not in good h: h carly in the year, and it was sugg that perhaps he might be willing not & talk of W run d o t been as bad in Mexico as elsewhere, and improvement sets in slowly. The sur- plus has been exhausted and current receipts have not been as high as ex- nected. The deficit app=: ki s her p hat are * al year, nation